In regards to bathroom bills: Why are people so mad at trans people instead of, oh I don’t know, ACTUALLY GETTING MAD AT AND PUNISHING THE PEOPLE WHO COMMIT SEXUAL ASSAULT?!
Just to be clear I am angry about the people actually perpatrating crimes and not the Trans community. However I have had an experience with someone identifying as Trans to manipulate and cause harm. I myself an gender fluid... I was expressing the fear that I had about something I don't really have control anyway. As I have said if someone is going to commit a crime they will and it has nothing really to do with the Trans community. I support you all in you need for Safety.
What bothers me is, if someone is going to assault a person in a bathroom, they aren’t going to let a little thing like rules stop them. It’s just infuriatingly funny to me the illogicality of a person who thinks a rapist needs permission to enter a room before they can rape someone, like they’re some kind of “Swiper no swiping” vampire or something.
It's more fun coming up with ridiculous theories--even heard this: Pro trans in bathroom bills (aka before these come on the scene in response to the needs of ultra conservatives for a new wedge issue), cis men will actually dress up in drag to assault women. Honestly I have heard this bizarre concept.
Quick note: The percentage of detransitioners includes trans people who were forced to stop or delay transitiondue to external factors such as medical conditions and transphobia
And being denied medicaid. Like me who was three years on hrt until I turned 19 and dropped out of high school and was dealing with health issues and they forced me off medicaid because I was no longer going to school.
Another thing about puberty blockers. Some children start hitting puberty way too early in their development and they are given the exact same puberty blockers in order to let them be children for a bit longer. If puberty blockers are so irreversibly dangerous (in TERFs minds) why aren't they talking about this side of things? Why are they only focusing on trans children? Hmm, what could it possibly be?
terfs want children (girls) to be recruited. hormone replacement therapy is potentially irreversible. www.nps.org.au/australian-prescriber/articles/prescribing-for-transgender-patients
@@haruhisuzumiya6650 Do ya' fucking see that what you did was either a mistake or extremely dishonest? Commenter talks about puberty blockers and you switch to hormone therapy being irreversible and link to an article that FUCKING SAYS puberty blockers are reversible.
Then there are transphobes who like try to argue that trans people who transition early (right before or in the earliest stages of puberty) are getting all these surgeries to irreversibly change their body, supposedly in a forced manner by "woke parents." Meanwhile, when the discussion about forced bodily changes on children comes to intersex children, not one of them ever acknowledges the fact that intersex people have sex-determining procedures forced on them before they can consent to a sex matching their gender identity. Nor do they ever seem to acknowledge that their parents usually force them into an assigned gender identity, deciding their gender for them. They also seem to project what actually happens to plenty of intersex people as children onto trans teens, and assume the same or similar thing happens to trans people.
Early puberty can be really damaging not only socially, but physically and psychologically. People acting gross towards children because they are “developed”, for example. My little sis is 9, but she looks 14, and I’m already dreading the bs that may come her way. Increase in chance of getting breast cancer is also a thing that happens. Puberty blockers can be a great solution, we just need to stop demonizing them and invest more in research and development.
I hope I am not intruding. I am a straight male. I was introduced through friends to a lady named Tasha. Tasha was a full op trans-sexual. She was one of my best friends eventually. I was surprised by her own trans-phobia. She talked about herself as a freak. I accepted her as Tasha. She committed suicide because of her feelings. I will always remember her. She was a friend and I enjoyed that friendship. It hurt me when it was gone.
💔 Condolences for Tasha. ~ Internalized prejudice/phobias due to cultural discrimination is a serious issue. I'm a cis-lesbian & have been suicidal because of this self-hatred, just wanting to be "normal". 🥺 Inclusivity, understanding, & support of all genders & orientations as human beings helps us all.
We don’t need to know that Tasha was post op, full op, pre op, what have you.. it is kind of disrespectful to include personal details like that, just for future reference. My condolences for your loss
As a cis man who was abused by a cis woman I feel so much solidarity with trans people against these toxic arguments in feminist discourse. The fear that those assigned male at birth who transition are a threat are rooted in the same arguments that excluded me from discussing abuse I suffered. It's essentialist. This was littered into 2nd wave feminist thought which i think is why some of the most prominent feminists from that era, like Germaine Greer, cling to TERF talking points. It's why it's only people with vaginas who are vulnerable and why only people with penises can be abusers. This isn't reality it's essentialism and is the reason why third wave feminism was such a gift. You were so right in how you talked about the importance of intersectionality. You are right that TERFs represent an ever shrinking population. I admit it often doesn't feel that way here in the UK. But videos as clear and thorough as this keep me hopeful.
You have my sympathy as a trans woman. It's tough. Cis men don't face constant threat of harrassment or abuse the way women do, but that means that the ones who do experience abuse have a very difficult time getting heard. I'm not immune to this thought myself, I haven't always been fair to either cis men or trans men post transition.
It is sad that it happened to you, but why it feels like you implying that there's a great number of such cases and that women aren't abused wat way more
@@ДаняТаргарян I didn't imply that. What you are doing is "whataboutism". Male abuse victims all know women are more likely to have those experiences. Sharing our experiences is not a denial of anyone else's. This is actually something I hear a lot. I know you don't mean harm but it is minimising to see this. also, this happens more often than you think. We are not encouraged to think of it as abuse when female teachers rape underage boys for example. The problem is that people refuse to think of men and boys as victims and give excuses to female predators. I don't know who this is, but it's a good video: ua-cam.com/video/e-UzxbPUur4/v-deo.html Boys are far less likely to come forward and so people don't often think it's a problem. Incidentally, As a feminist it is also extremely depressing that other feminists think I'm an antifeminist if I ever talk about this. It's a constant fear when I'm in feminist spaces. I care a lot about fighting for equality so it does hurt that people can be so weird about be mentioning what happened to me, whatever the context. I have a lot of feminist friends who don't minimise me and see me as an ally and themselves as allies to me. But it's difficult to trust people. That last part isn't directed at you. just a thought I had reading back all the replies.
I wish more cis women and men were understanding of and compassionate to male victims of abuse... it’s already so hard for anyone to talk about their abuse, and for men to have to worry that it’ll be discounted by the people they open up to is absolutely awful...
JK doesn’t understand trans people at all, I was raised by women, adore women, grew up thinking women were so strong and beautiful and it was empowering to be one. I am still a feminist after the realization that I was a man. I didn’t transition because I felt “oppressed,” I felt genuine dysphoria and idk what it’s going to take to convince people of this
I wish our genders could just be accepted as they are without questions...like, my gender shouldn't need to be proven, or explained... Like, why do we need to owe anyone that?
I'm a hardcore feminist and I've never understood what the problem with trans women is. Like how can you belong to group that has been oppressed and then try to oppress others? I'm so sorry that you have to go through this, I wish we were already past this. *Hugs*
@@teiashort1451 They are, they just aren't a terf. Terfs aren't really feminists, as far as I'm concerned. You can't be a feminist while deliberately excluding a large section of women.
Well and people in the trans community are again oppressing others too. It is almost like people are individuals. Anyone can bully/oppress anyone. Being part of any minority does not give you the right to oppress or bully others. I am sure 99.9% of the people want equality, but what we disagree on is the road to it.
You explained why I still dress in dudes clothes and am terrified to act feminine. Especially living in KY, I feel like there is a real threat to my safety if I were to dress and act like a girl in public.
And yet, you are valid and you are a woman, even if you must hide that fact for your own safety ,just like many cis women had to hide their female status for their own safety throughout history...Didn't change the fact that they are/were women, doesn't change the fact that you are a woman. Be blessed!
It's a fucking mad ass world. You know, around this time last year (slightly under a year ago), I met the first out trans person in my life. The conversation went as follows: "Here's x, y and z, and I'm Amy. Chose the name myself, tryna forget the other one." "Oh, cool. Is that A-I-M-É-with-an-accent-E or A-M-Y?" "A-M-Y, I wish I'd've known about the other one. It actually came from a videogame." "Yeah, fair." And then we got on great. Fucking Hell, I'm a twat sometimes, but in that one aspect I hope I'm better than most I hear about.
I hear you sis! I live a long way away (Netherlands) but I swear if you would move here I'd make sure you'd be allowed to just look and dress and act whichever way you want and I'd defend you till death if anyone so much as looks at you sideways. I wish I could offer that to all trans people who feel like they can't be themselves where they live, but unfortunately I'm only one person and so many people live so far away... By the way, I really don't want to come across as the "righteous cis woman savior coming to save the day", I just want to offer a safe space for someone who doesn't have one, regardless of my identity and that person's identity. We're all human and everyone deserves to live their life the way they want to live it. As long as you're not harming others, you have my undying alliance against injustice.
"'Harry, your eyesight really is awful,' said Hermione as she put on glasses." (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Ch. 4 'The Seven Potters.') Hermione's called "she" while she had Harry's trouser tackle, and Harry's stubble and Harry's whatnot. Because Hermione's still herself, a woman, no matter what body she's currently in. JK's own books refute her, over and over. Thank you for spending your emotional resources to make this excellent response, and for offering such amazing resources throughout your channel.
Because surgery doesn't truly change gender when they cut your balls off and put hormones in you. Why should a polyjuice potion with the same effect make the narrator change pronouns? Hermione was still born female and this is temporary shapeshifting. Also, if you take the "grow to be" message and apply it literally to changing genes, that's a can of worms not worth opening. That message was about personality, not gender.
I'm a trans man and I couldn't be more insulted by JKR on every possible front. If I had known about puberty blockers or even that transgender IS A THING THAT EXISTS I would have begged for them. Puberty was nightmare. My mom had to make sure I kept my nails cut short because I kept clawing at my skin. And you were dead on about different gender experiences being equally valid. Most men will never what it's like to give birth. I do. I'm still a man. JKR saying that girls just "decide" to be trans so they don't have to deal with misogyny is just ridiculous. I have to deal with transphobia, homophobia (I'm also gay), and still misogyny. Transitioning didn't make misogyny go away. And it's irrelevant because it had nothing to do with why I began transitioning. I did it because I'm a man. End of story. You're beautiful, Jessie. And you have far more grace in the face of JKR's prejudice than I ever could.
As a cishet man I just want to say I wholeheartedly accept you into the brotherhood of dudes and offer you the manliest of hugs. I'm so glad you're able to live your authentic life now.
"I did it because I'm a man" I struggle when people say this. How are you a man? Can you explain? In my mind, I am a man because I have male anatomy. Am I wrong? Could I be a woman without knowing it?
@@tahaghassemi2381 I am not trans myself so of course I can't tell you that this is what it's like for sure, but imagine this: You, with the same brain, mind, thoughts, feelings etc. are placed in a woman's body.. I would assume that despite you having a different body that you'd still see yourself as a man: not in the sense of your anatomy, but "in your brain" in the way you identify a.k.a. your gender would remain male. And that's what I'm guessing it's like for trans people. Take for example a trans man, he might have been born in a woman's body, but just like you despite being (or in your case imagining) yourself in a woman's body, he would still be a man. It's a difficult concept to wrap your mind around, especially when your gender matches up with the biological sex you are born as, but people have been experiencing this for centuries, so it would be wrong to assume it's all just "fake" or something. I hope this helped you understand the topic in some way and I'd recommend you listen to trans people's experiences too and not just my attempt at explaining it 😅🙈
Taha Ghassemi Taha Ghassemi for me, a trans man, I never got to a point of “I’m a man” instead I kept doing things that made me feel less horrible in my own body (bind my boobs, pick a new name, try new pronouns, get HRT) and those things that make me feel better made me what people will look at and assume to be male. I’m myself and that self seems to be what soceity calls a man
@@Towlapeiwa Whatever it is that allows you to live as your honest self. 😊 It took me a very long time to understand why everything felt wrong all of the time. I sometimes over-compensated by being overly feminine to convince myself and others that I was normal. In the process, I discovered that I like a lot of "feminine" things, which led to more confusion. It took a lot of time to really understand and accept myself. What society says is masculine/feminine changes constantly. Wearing makeup used to be a symbol of high class and wealth, not of gender. That's just one example. Anyway, how you define yourself is your right as a person. You have the right to be honest about who you are and societal norms don't need to align with that.
After respectfully trying to talk some sense into JK Rowling myself for far too long here's how I see it: She sees herself as a victim, all the time. Regardless of her own actions she simply MUST come out the other side as the victim because otherwise she'd have to face being wrong, and her psyche doesn't seem to be able to ever admit that. It doesn't matter how wrong she is, she must be right in some way, she MUST be the victim. It's a very twisted thought process to conclude: My husband used to beat me, I'm afraid of men, transwomen used to be men, no transwomen ARE men, I'm afraid of men, therefore I hate transwomen, but if I SAY that I won't be the victim anymore, so transwomen MUST be doing something wrong because I'm the victim. Hell, what she said was even hurtful to women like me who lost their uterus to cancer. She straight up said that makes me not a woman too, something I assure you gets leveled at a lot of us post hysterectomy. My sister (who was born infertile and had a hysterectomy at 20) was once asked by her friend's mom not to attend her friend's babyshower because it was for "real women only" and she didn't want to have anyone bring "bad luck" to the baby. I shit you not. I just want to say to you and anyone else who took the moment to read this: You are valuable and I don't feel "threatened" by you in any way, shape, or form. You are important and the way you see yourself is valid. I don't feel like you're taking something away from me in some way. 🤗
Cass Lyris thanks for the kind words friendo. What happened to your sister was goddamn bullshit, and if I ever have a baby shower, I’m inviting whoever the hell I want, gender or sex or fuckin’ surgical history (STILL can’t wrap my mind around the “woman with no uterus = bad juju”, like wtf, we are NOT living in the European Dark Ages people, we have modern science and medicine and... ugh. whatever) be damned. I’M the one that’ll have been growing a goddamn NEW PERSON in my freaking body and getting my hormones all fucked up for close to a YEAR when all is said and done - I don’t give a shit WHAT is “proper” for a baby shower or not. There will be video games. And drinks. Nonalcoholic too, of course, but if I’m getting all my pals in one place we might as well make it fun. Or there’ll be an after-party, at least, once the fam clears out. I dunno. I got side-tracked here... FULL SUPPORT TO YOU AND YOUR SIS. REPRODUCTIVE ABILITY DOES NOT A WOMAN MAKE.
I just want to throw a story out about the bathroom thing: At my college, they made all the women's bathrooms 'inclusive' bathrooms, they put this tiny plaque that stated only women and transwomen were allowed. In my opinion i like the attempt, but the inplication was dumb. My training route of medical care was primarily women, our bathroom was the one in that hall, the police academy shared our hall and it was mainly men. They didnt read the TINY plaque and just assumed the inclusive bathroom sign meant they could use it, several times ONE man would yell and kick out 5-6 women just so he could piss on our toilets alone and wreck the place. I was furious, i multiple times yelled at these guys they werent allowed, they didnt understand the meaning of inclusive to WOMEN, not them, a teacher of mine who was a 70+ yr old woman even understood the nuance and kicked them out as well. I would not have a problem with transwomen, they wouldnt act like that, literal territorial pissing on women's space, and when we reported these actions, the college's response was to just take away the signs... and that was just angering, because those guys basically jusy handed them an excuse to continue bigotry instead of being decent and reprimanding the perpetrators for breaking the social contract and giving proper training about what such words mean... As dumb as it is, thats basically how i see these narrow arguements from people like rowlings stuff. You're not helping, you're making it worse, you're enabling that guy to kick women out of their space so he can just piss all over our seats -.-
So what is the definition of woman and transwoman that would effectively exclude these men from using those bathrooms? Like what would that training look like had they received such training? I'm only asking because I find your comment curious and don't exactly understand what you would want to happen?
naryainc not op but I can try to give a general answer? The definition I would use is that people who live as women are women, there’s still a little bit of ambiguity in that but it’s the most problem free. It immediately excludes men who don’t want to jokingly pretend to be women, those who would think it’s funny to pretend will get tired eventually and are also easy to spot, and people who are actually questioning would be welcome to use the women’s bathroom if it feels the most comfortable :) This is all provided that they behave themselves of course, no one regardless of anatomy or identity should be allowed to behave like chimpanzees in a public bathroom :D I find it really odd that the administration didn’t just draw the line there.
@@jaybee158 What does it mean to live as a woman and how would you distinguish between people who live as women, men who jokingly pretend to be women, and people who are questioning? If two of those categories meet the criteria to use the women's bathroom, I am asking what the criteria is and how one of the categories does not meet them.
@@naryainc This is 8 months late, but: "live as a woman" = minimum of a social transition (aka dress as a woman, identify as a woman, and use women's spaces (or non-gendered spaces), if we're going with the medical requirement for gender surgery elligibility, then they need to have done that for at least 6 months. "men jokingly pretend to be women" = I'd assume that a guy who'd go through the pain to crossdress and be a drag queen just to get into that bathroom would be humored unless they start acting shitty, if they want to get into a clean bathroom *so bad* that they'd willingly crossdress the whole time. "people who are questioning" = people who don't know what their gender presentation is and might be trying things out and taking uncertain baby steps to try and figure out where they fit. Usually someone questioning their gender will have some level of gender-nonconforming clothes. ("Questioning" in this hypothetical might also be early trans men who haven't quite psyched themselves up to brave the men's bathroom yet and look like tomboy women.) As for the training, I'd assume it'd be "don't be an eff'n smartass and piss all over the women's bathroom if you identify as a man, the "women and transwomen" sign doesn't eff'n mean it's now a mixed bathroom, get your ass out of there and If I get more complaints about you being an asshole there's going to be penalties."
@@naryainc If you seriously don't get the difference between men who are jokingly pretend to be women and people who live as women (whether cis or trans, non-binary, whatever) you probably have crossed so many trans people without realizing that they were trans because you can't begin to imagine what someone who actually passes might look like, along with being completely oblivious to the many examples the media (mainstream or not) over time has used when making jokes of men dressing up (and doing it badly, either by cheap wigs, badly fitting clothes, that kind of stuff) I'm not afraid this will be capable of being explained to you. Given the backlash I see people (whether transfemale or transmale, though at times it looks as if transwomen have it worse) experience just because they transition, I don't see men being suddenly overly comfortable of just invading women's spaces, even if by jokingly pretending to be women because they will also face fierce oppression...
This is one of the best videos on this subject I have seen. I’m a straight cis gender non-conforming woman. People (including friends and family) have called me ‘cross-dresser’, ‘tomboy’, or simply that they ‘did not see me as a woman’... I am uncomfortable not only with traditional social gender roles (clothing, activities, language, etc), but also with some biological aspects of being female, like the possibility of pregnancy or breastfeeding. I do believe this is a form of dysphoria (possibly even gender dysphoria) and yet I’ve never felt the need or desire to transition, which proves that being trans is beyond ‘wanting to escape the oppression of being female’. Being trans, I believe (correct me if I’m wrong) is an innate sense of self and gender.
Ooooh Im so happy I read this. There are so few voices like yours these days and so many of those few are troublingly transphobic and/or cynical. There are a trillion ways to be a woman, none less valid than the other and noone gets to define your feminity but you. GNC women unite!
Constanza, I watched two of your videos. You're much too good looking to be mistaken for a man. You are always smiling for the camera, a trait that I don't think many men have. Your command of written English is impeccable. Celebrate your individuality and don't worry about discomfort with pregnancy or breastfeeding. Perhaps you are chosen to lead a more adventurous life.
Wow, I never thought I’d be getting replies but thanks each and every one of you. I’ve always felt different, and in 2018 I discovered the label gender non-conforming through trans UA-camrs like Jackson Bird. I started following many trans UA-camrs and to some extent I identified with their experiences, and I’ll be forever grateful to them for visualising the things they go through. I confirmed what I’ve always known (that I’m not trans or gay, despite what people may think) but I found this label for myself and I tried to find GNC women on UA-cam and Instagram. I don’t often see many GNC straight women and I’ve always been self-conscious when it comes to dating, firstly because I was always made to feel like I wasn’t feminine enough for men to like me, and secondly because I’ve always felt a bit different regarding sexual attraction (I started identifying as demisexual last year when my ex broke up with me and I realised how hard it was for me to even be attracted to anyone but him). It’s not easy to be a woman, especially if you don’t conform to gender roles, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. Transitioning isn’t what I need but for some people it’s the best way to live their lives and I will support them and defend their right to have agency over their own bodies.
As a cis women, when I was around 16 I became uncomfortable with my body. I'd already had body insecurities, but these became more gender focused. On some days I wanted to appear masculine, I enjoyed my strong jawline and didn't like my small frame. On some days I wanted to be slim and feminine, I loved my long hair, but hated my deeper voice. Most days I wanted to neither or both, and felt conflicted about what I was, because I enjoyed some the masculine/feminine parts, but disliked others. I thought I might be genderfluid, and experiemented with being called he/him and they/them. I experimented with how I dressed. My friend even bought me male boxers for my birthday, and on some days I tried flattening my chest with sports bras. I enjoyed being called they/them and he/him. I later realised that I was infact in a very bad mental state, and I was unsure of my identity in general and had general body insecurities, and liked being called the different pronouns because I liked that my friends took me seriously when I expressed these feelings to them. If I didnt have that opportunity to explore, then I think I wouldn't have identified the real cause of these feelings, and wouldn't have taken the steps to improve my mental health. It took me a bit longer to realise why these issues manifested as being unsure about my gender. Yes, I'd heard about trans people, so that gave me language to explore these feelings. But I think it mostly stemmed from the idea that women must be feminine, and if they're not then there's an issue. This gender binary made me think that because I liked some masculine things, then I must be some flavour of trans. The trans community pushes for this to be abolished. It allows girls to have short hair and boys to wear skirts. These are things transphobes hate, which I believe had a majority cause of my gender related issue. Ironically, the ideas they're pushing caused me to almost go to my doctor and discuss transition when I'm actually just cis. These are conclusions I had to come to on my own. No amount of shunning or legislation would have changed my mental state, it would just make it harder for me to overcome it.
Her take on trans-men is as frustrating as it is gross. A lot of trans-men didn't realize they were trans (myself included) growing up and just thought there were other issues with them (body dystopia, depression, self-loathing born solely out of institutional sexism, etc) because transgender men were missing from the conversation until very recently. Now that trans-men are starting to be talked about, more afab kids are realizing their internal struggles are trans related. Of course the numbers will rise. It's not some coercion from sinister doctors or friends. That whole section of the letter is as gross as the rest, but also negligent.
naryainc not op but also a trans guy with a similar story! To me it was my decade long not-like-other-girls-phase that I later realized was a trans thing, not internalized misogyny or personal preference thing. Now that I’ve been seen as a man for a couple years I’ve also started to accept and embrace my more feminine interests and clothing style, and never felt more comfortable in my own skin! Gender sure is an adventure lol
'If you don't want to date trans people, that's fine, most trans people don't want to date you anyways' - ACTUALLY laughed at that, bravo. It's just one of those little moments where the humour shines through despite the awful situation.
It echoed what I once said to some guy that was ranting about "queers" being predators and I asked him what made him think that gays would find him remotely attractive in the first place.
@Sacha Barbie That transphobia is rampant in our society. The same way in the 50s the percentage of white men who wanted to date black women was very low.
It's actually not a joke though - Honestly our big fear as trans people is encountering a transphobe. If you want to get depressed read about the trans panic defense - trans people, particularly trans women, can be murdered for disclosing they're trans and murdered for NOT disclosing they're trans and "trans/gay panic" is actually legal a defense in many states. We want to stay as FAR from transphobes as possible and it's not just out of snark. Best case scenario we get emotionally abused, traumatised, dysphoric, misgendered and potentially feel suicidal. Worst case scenario the person murders us, whether we disclosed being trans or not, whether things became physical or not it's a massive risk. It's not safe for all of us to simply out ourselves on the internet or dating sites either. I really wish transphobes would put that on their dating profile because THEY won't get murdered for being transphobes but trans people have a high risk of being murdered, whether by a sexual/romantic partner or by neither, a complete stranger.
@Sacha Barbie Plenty in the experience of myself and my trans friends. And not only creepy fetishisers of trans people (trust me we can tell those a mile away). And all of my trans friends are out as trans, there's no surprises either. Don't believe the movies that get cisgender actors to try portray trans people and do it badly. We're more than a cis person cross-dressing. The trans people I've met often have very nuanced and individual perspectives on life and tend to not go for groupthink, given they've taken the real red pill about social constructs (the actual trans metaphor, based on the Matrix movie created by trans women, not the MRA misappropriation). It's tended to make them really cool to get to know, that they've experienced so much and had to question so much which is contrary to what social constructs we're taught in mainstream society and I love the nuances of those conversations, they're always refreshing to me.
So I'm a cis man and I'm just gonna drop a little story here. Years ago I did a summer internship at a local game studio and hit it off almost immediately with one of my coworkers, who was a really nerdy woman with whom I had tons in common. One night we're all out for a few drinks and she confides to me that she's trans, and hasn't had surgery. My response was to kiss her. :P We made out a bit, then after everyone went home I went back to her place. Now unfortunately I just do not experience attraction to penises; I made it clear that was in no way personal, it's just the way I'm wired. She understood and we cuddled and talked all night. I wouldn't have ruled out a nonsexual relationship, and we probably would have had sex had she had gender confirmation surgery, but the way things were at the time it just wasn't something I was comfortable with, and I don't know a single trans person who would say I should have forced myself to go along with it. We never really explored anything further after that but we're still friends. :)
@Kara Middleton oh wow, do you curse a lot at problematic mysosinistic males or it is only women who deserve slurs? Why trans supporters are misgynists much
@@WAEVOICE What exactly is "cute" about that? Its exactly what Johanne is doing. Or is there some other way of interpreting her claim that making the alteration to someone's birth certificate gender marker take three months instead of two years will increase the amount of sexual assault?
Thank you for this video. I'm a straight white nearly middle aged guy, I know nothing, but what stories people tell, and what comes up in the media. That is not a defence of some controversial view in about to espouse, I just wanted to say where I came from. I fully support trans women, men, gender fluid - I feel people should be free to be themselves, being born one way or another doesn't always represent who someone really is. I've grown into this belief over twenty years. Sometimes I feel the world has been growing and learning these things right along with me... And other times that world keeps falling behind. I first became aware of TERF ideology only a couple of years ago, sure I've known people that have said things as individuals, I've known people that simply couldn't wrap their heads around the idea of someone being different to the gender they were born as... But if never seen it as an organised set of beliefs. Anti-trans is something I associated with Conservative men, who also tended to be homophobic. What opened my eyes was a lesbian and feminist group were barred from holding a meeting at my local town hall, they were openly expressing views that transwomen weren't real women. That really boggled my brain, if it had been some form religious right womens group, I wouldn't have been so shocked. I don't agree with them, but the thought process is pretty simple and expected. In my head, LGBT+ are people standing together, Pride is saying we're all different, but we're all valid, we're all human, we all deserve dignity. Maybe I'm too optimistic about humanity sometimes... Its an intellectual disconnect for me. Maybe it shouldn't be though, feminism has a long history of a very narrowly defined view of who can be a feminist, there has been a distinct lack of representation of people of colour, and she that problem still exists today. "I'm fighting for my rights, but just my rights - you're not a good fit for us, so we're not fighting for you". And I realise obviously that's not the universal view, but from the outside it's pretty pervasive looking. To some degree, this feels an extension of that, but then more so, because its not just we won't fight for you, we will fight you, using the same tactics used against us when stood up. I'm outsider I know, I can't truly get any of it, I've never lived any part of it other than as a bystander and occasional cheerleader for my friends and loved ones. I'm sorry you had to make this video, I'm sorry you have to give so much of yourself and make yourself ill to do so. I'm glad you did though, and I hope plenty of people hear you, hear what you have to say, and stop to listen and try to understand. Thank you
No one said feminists and lesbians are anti-trans. What has been said and is true, some few, (a relatively small few), feminists and lesbians are also TERFs and are anti-trans. This recharacterisation of the facts, to present an argument everyone already agreed with, is the rhetoric that TERFs, chauvinists, and alt-right mouth pieces all use to convert the weak minded. The truth is dealing with a discussion on its merit is impossible because what they're arguing for has little merit. Those with genuine issues on either side which could have been discussed and a meeting of minds take place are lost in the kerfuffle. We should listen to each other and raise the quality of debate so we can make the world better for us all.
I'm a cis man who proudly calls himself a feminist. Listening carefully to women like you is such an inspiration to learn more about this wholesome movement that is spreading massive change across society. Thank you so much for the clarity and consistency of your arguments. I could feel the pain in every word you said regardless of your inner strength to cope with these irrational attacks. Love always wins. My best regards from Buenos Aires, Argentina. You now have 1 more subscriber. Take good care!
@dilemma dream Men can be feminists. Feminism is about equal rights and opportunity for all, reagardless of gender, race, religion, sexual/romantic orientation etc. Men can be feminists, because supporting equality and working towards it is not only limited to women. Non-binary people can be feminists, demiboys can be feminists, demigirls can be feminists, agender people can be feminists. Your gender doesn't dictate whether you're "allowed" to be a feminist. Your actions do.
@dilemma dream They definently can be speaking as a woman. I had a college professor (male) that was raised by his feminist mother who he fought alongside with on many feminist causes.
41:55 - Exactly. That exact thing happened some years ago at the community college I attended at the time. The sign on the women's bathroom did not deter the cis-male assailant from assaulting the cis-woman in that space.
As a trans man I’m absolutely disgusted that she thinks I wouldn’t and don’t care about women, I may not be one but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. I remember what I was treated like being read as a girl, I have many friends and family members that are women that I want to see treated better. Being a woman is hard yes, but it’s much harder when you aren’t one and are trying to be. Sorry for the rant but yeah, I care.
Sure, it's hard to expand what it means (or looks like) to be a man, I get it. But being constantly controlled and oppressed because you are a woman has nothing to do with gender and all to do with sex. Think about reproductive rights and rights to education, sex trafficking. These issues affect women because they are female, not because they are feminine.
@@naryainc This is very misinformed. Do you think a man who abuses women cares if they are cis or trans? Unless you think that one can always spot if a woman is trans or not, or that men have some way of knowing what genitals a woman has just by looking at her, this makes no sense. If you as a trans-woman, present as a woman, take on the appearance of a woman through hormones, clothing and/or surgery, for all intents and purposes society (as long as it sees you as a woman), will treat you as a woman, which is to say street harassment, sexual assault, catcalling, even rape, regardless of what your birth sex happens to be. And if society doesn't see you as the gender you are, you face additional harassment on top of that, such as misgendering, deadnaming, lack of access to healthcare, being treated as not even human, and arguably even worse than cis women. The point is, both cis and transwomen face great amounts of oppression in society, sometimes in similar ways, sometimes in different ways. It is not your place to deny this reality, just because you have been oppressed as well. I too, as an autistic man have faced horrible abuse from an ableist society, but that doesn't give me the right to erase the suffering of women, and especially trans-women in our society.
It's really ridiculous how terfs claim that trans people won't care about women's rights. Like, most binary trans people know what it's like to be treated as both a woman AND a man, so they literally have a better understanding of sexism than most cis people? and terfs think that trans people won't then care about gender equality? it defies reason
@@naryainc The reason women are oppressed is long and complicated and has next to nothing to do with anatomy. Anatomy has been linked with gender roles in some societies, but this does not mean the gender role is contingent on one’s anatomy.
JKR using the fact that she suffered domestic abuse at the hands of a cisgender male partner as an 'excuse' for then launching into an attack on transgender people is just so irrational and wrong. Instead of confronting cisgender males for their misogynistic violence she has instead elected to shift the blame to another group entirely - i.e. the transgender community - (including many of us who are transgender females and girls and also suffer misogynistic violence and discrimination). She couldn't have done a ''better' job of derailing feminism if she tried. Even if she, and people like her, did manage to completely take away the rights of trans people it would still not change the fact of misogynistic violence and discrimination one iota. Hating on trans people actually makes it worse because it emboldens the misogynist alpha male establishment - who are also transphobic as well as misogynistic. What she is doing is the very antithesis of feminism.
I don't know. If someone of the male sex, unlike a transexual, still presenting a man or genderfluid, raging with testosterone, can legally be considered a woman, and people are pushing for even more relaxed laws, it does raise the question in terms of rape in prisons and frankly any men getting an eyeful in changing rooms.
It's a classic fallacious argument: I've had something terrible happen to me, therefore whatever I have to say is more valid because I'm a trauma survivor. The two just do not equivocate. Her abuse from a cisgender male partner do not give her any extra insight into transgender issues. Although it is brave of her to share her story of abuse, her essay is an inappropriate forum for that: it has nothing to do with the crux of what she's saying.
@Bigfilmhat Wow, dictionary.com, as everyone knows that is the forefront of scientific research. Every one of those descriptors of a male you just listed have a wide array of exceptions. XY chromosomes are not 100% consistent across those that develop male. There are many exceptions to that as there are to the others you listed.
@Jessie: I'm an old, white, hetero, cis man. It took me 3 hours to watch this video because I kept pausing to take notes and think about things. I experienced many emotions but the one that brings me to this comment was my gut reaction to your saying, in your exhaustion, that this video was a waste of your time. As hard as it was for you make, it was not a waste! It is difficult to overstate how important this was to me. Thank you for your courage, compassion, intelligence, and grace.
I can't believe how patient, kind and humane Jessie stays throughout this video. It's genuinely heartwarming and such a huge show of character and empathy. 100/10. Thank you so much for this video.
Anybody else here feeling that JKR's actions are all a cynical, calculated propaganda ploy? Step 1): Post an item of deliberately inflamatory "cancel bait"... Step 2) Wait for inevitable backlash, which will naturally also affect the people closely associated with you (Radcliffe, Watson, Redmayne et al) ...Step 3) Cherrypick the most emotional, rudest replies you get 4) Post your "reaction" essay to the backlash (that you had prepared beforehand???), weaponising your own history of trauma as well as the cherrypicked abuse you've received, linking the two in your audience's mind, thus painting all your opponents as abusers as well as framing yourself as a brave truthteller, abandoned and betrayed even by your associated you've deliberately drawn into the crossfire (Radcliffe etc.). This is an established PR/propaganda tactic. I cannot see it any other way. There are four lights.
i for one believe twitter should be abolished. it is impossible for genuine discourse to take place on twitter. it makes it too easy for people with shitty views to pick out the most aggressive responses in 140 characters and paint themselves as the victim.
Thank you for this in depth break down. As a cis-man I feel extremely out of my depth on these issues but I had a gut feeling these comments by Rowling were hurtful. My cis-woman partner has these internal struggles with trans vs cis woman spaces so I'm trying my best to understand it. It's so confusing seeing all the support from cis-women for Rowling who all seem to think their spaces are under attack.
I don't care about what anyone says, if a behaviour or set of thoughts is hurting and dehumanizing other people, then it's bad and I don't want to associate with it. To me, a cis woman, the fact that trans women are suffering is more important than any argument used against their right to exist as women. I don't want in any way cause suffering to any human being, man, woman or nonbinary, I want the world to become a place where everyone can be themselves to the fullest. I really can't understand how for some people their hurtful opinions are more meaningful and worthy to be heard than the suffering that others go through, right in front of their eyes. I'm sorry for all the hurt J.K Rowling is causing, I'm just a random person from the internet but I want to tell all trans women who might read this comment, you girls are women as much as I am, valid as anybody else and worthy of rights. Take care!
Literally nobody who isnt a psychopath is calling for 'trans people right to exist' trans people exist... i know that because we see them. This is just a crazy sentiment that words are causing trans women not to exist... its not lol. If you dont like someones opinion then move on. its freedom of association.
This makes me so angry & sad. My 13-year-old is a trans boy. And I rarely, get a chance to release the pressure valve on my concern, not just for him but for all trans people. We should CELEBRATE the opening of societal acceptance norms of trans people. J.K. Rowling is so on the wrong side of history on this. Of course her experiences are valid. And her suffering is real. But for her to use her enormous platform to subtley propagate ant-trans perspectives is not just hurtful in general but powerfully impactful to those who follow her. I support you, as a trans woman. And as a heartfelt deep thinker. Love, Nikolas
Just want to acknowledge that you did find the strength not only to come back and edit the video, but that some of those edits included material that is surely painful to you. I applaud your fortitude.
Given that JKR used Hermoine to show it is "wrong" to try and uplift oppressed people (the house elves) it's hardly surprising she is not sympathetic to the systemic oppression of trans people. That woman really needs to get her priorities straight.
naryainc standing up for women’s rights isn’t a bad thing. Standing up for the rights of some women by attacking a different group of people that includes women is a bad thing. Especially if the reasons given for attacking said different group can be easily refuted.
@@PlanetZoidstar Any group focused on women's liberation has to be inclusive to men and transwomen, otherwise they are deemed hateful. Gender has always been a hierarchy and we used to know this, masculinity has always been valued more than femininity, and men more than women because we live in patriarchal societies (built for men by men long ago). Instead of freeing ourselves from gender (masc and fem) and its roles ( 70s) we have become more stricter than ever to encourage conformity to gender stereotypes. If a female toddler likes to have short hair and wear trousers instead of dresses, we are quick to label them wrong due to these GNC behaviour or interests (and even label them trans) as if boys and girls had to conform to gender roles and stereotypes because of their sex. That is the definition of sexism. Any woman (and there are many) who calls this out, questions how we are currently treating and medicalizing GNC youth, or mentions any difference between transwomen and women, or even mentions the word women when discussing female bodily functions gets labelled a hateful terf and is often fired from her job. Gender has been a patriarchal tool to oppress women, it has been used to make women conform to femininity (wearing dresses instead of pants in the 1800s, being ladylike and dependent on men). We have done a great deal to abolish this in the later half of the 20th c but are now starting to police conformity again. I hope that explains some of it.
@@Not_Pie Freedom of association is a human right, both individually and collectively. If you want to create an organization or club for only women where you want to discuss issues women face, you can. Second wave feminists fought hard for sex-segregated public spaces because men are a statistical threat to women, and today people seem to think sex doesn't matter anymore and it's somehow insulting to recognize sex as material reality.
When people feel attacked by scientifically accurate terminology ("people who menstruate" as in... "people who menstruate"? Saying otherwise isn't only offensive to trans people but also feminism in general, tbh) and connect the mere notion of transgender individuals to bathroom assaults _they are the problem_ . That is how discrimination and bias works and it's baffling how people like JKR perform mental acrobatics to assert a stance that is based on ignorance. Dear JKR and other Karens, no, you're not doing it "for the children", and no, nobody wants to take away your period rights or the concept of biological sex. You're just scared of what you don't understand. And bonus points for still coming out as "the victim". So thank you for the very educational and surprisingly calm video, I wished nobody would have to discuss any of this and I'm hurting with you ❤️ Trans lives are valid, trans lives matter, and all of that should be obvious by now
I felt so bad during the part where you talk about your harassment. I mean, I'm not stupid, I guessed it. But I'm going to your videos inter alia, to feel safe and that's so sad and unfair that you are not. I know you're tired, and sick, and feel like you're wasting your time. But watching that video wasn't a waste of time for me. It helped me a lot. Especially because you found the words to express my thoughts and now I am better equipped when having to confront people about that topic. Most of all, as a non-binary person that no one takes seriously (I not only mean misgendering, but most importantly no one think it's possible for someone not trans to don't recognize oneself in women hood. For them, I'm just a masculine girl that want attention) I'm glad to be able to back up my sayings with your video that I'm sending to my friends, and that help me sensibilized them to things that they won't believe if it was only coming from me. Like the validity of non binary identity, or the danger of misgendering. Actually, after sending your video, one of my closest friend has ask for my pronouns and it's the first time that ever happened to me. So, thank you so much for doing this, and, really, this video wasn't a waste for me. It meant so much! Ps: as a French person, I have to say that I kind of winced a little at your prononciation of Simone de Beauvoir. But it was also kind of cute, I must say.
History has proven OVER AND OVER AND OVER again that ensuring EVERYONE's rights are respected, increasing those people whose rights are respected better protects EVERYONE's rights. This is a no brainer. Thank you for another informative, well researched and open video Jessie. I haven't had the pleasure of knowing any trans people personally, I live in a really small town in Northern Ontario and so am not even certain if there are any trans people in my community (there may be who simply just live their lives and aren't advertising their gender identity or personal stories for whatever reason they have) and so I really appreciate you helping me become better informed about these issues. For example thanks to your videos I know more appropriate language to use, to avoid harming anyone, for when I do someday interact knowingly with a trans person. I thought it was worth telling you this so you have first-hand confirmation that the information you share isn't falling on deaf ears (I had seen/read on twitter some of the JKR situation/statements and was confused about some of it - as a cis-woman who stopped menstruating for about a dozen years I had a bit of a knee jerk reaction to the "People who menstruate" term since I thought, though It isn't being said, that it was inherently implying that I was, during that time, somehow less of a woman... Your clarification of the use of similar terms as more accurate language helped me realize that what I was hearing in that label was about my own insecurities and not related to when/where/how it was being used - like by organizations helping menstruating people in need or speaking to them about issues specific to menstruation). I really appreciate your courage and effort to help better inform all of us. Stay safe and healthy :)
@Iulia Ionela Petcu ? seriously your question would be laughable if it didn't have the potential to be so harmful to so many people. You do realize women's bathrooms in North America usually have stalls right? are you in the habit of trying to share other women's stalls? I usually just mind my business and don't care about who else is relieving themselves while I'm in the bathroom but when I hear a question like yours I have to be honest and say I am put off at the thought of anyone like yourself in the women's bathroom... Individuals who are apparently busy wondering about my genitalia instead of just going to the bathroom and minding their own business - frankly it's creepy, do you spend time pondering other people's genitalia everywhere you go in day-to-day life or just when you're in a public bathroom? Stop creeping about what's under other people's clothes and go about your business.
@@KarinaHunter Here in Germany we usually have one big changing room in Sport Studios etc. It is normal to see other women naked or at least in their underwear. Does that change the perception? Not the whole world is american. This comment is however not meant to sound im against Transpeople using the Bathrooms/ Lockerrooms of the sex they identify with, i just feel this is a very complex issue.
Hey there! I'm a cis-man, and am a big fan of Rowling's work. I have (belatedly) come to know of this issue, and the argument surrounding it. I'm not at all well versed with the issue, and have been reading to educate myself about it. You have been very brave, very honest and very sensitive in the way you explained everything. Your video made me realise that not only is Rowling's essay disingenuous, it's actually harmful in a very real way. So thank you for putting up this video - as it allows people like me to gain some understanding of the issues involved and realise the damage that words can cause.
This is a step in the right direction. :) Educating yourself about the trans community is soooo important. Respecting others’ pronouns is essential. And being able to stand up against anything homophobic/transphobic is much needed.
I'm sorry JK was abused, that was a horrible thing that happened to her; but she does not get to abuse others because of it. Enby's are valid, Trans Men are men, Trans Women are women.
No, trans men are trans men. No matter how you chose to look at it. A male or female human being is made in the womb, it's not something that it possible to ever change completely. Denying that is denying biology and therefor reality itself. I will call a transman a man, if he has undergone change. But I will always know he's actually a human female (no shit).
As a fellow transwoman and someone who admires Rowling's impact on literature, it truly saddens me that she has spouted such narrow minded and bigoted rhetoric. It's ironic that the woman who tried to denonce bigotry in her writing could be so easily accused of it herself.
Eh... Most who “have issue with it” are just critical (note: critical does not always mean condemnatory) of fluidity taking precedence over the binary in how we see and discuss sex and gender.
@@gillianomotoso328 That's because the binary is an oversimplification. This is the blog of a professor of biology: freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/?s=sex+binary
Gillian Omotoso Not to mention that trans people are most often not gender-fluid, but transphobes only want them to live in the part of that binary they deem fit, whether it’s based in science or not.
Not gonna lie I was tearing up towards the end. I know how tired I get of having to have these conversations with people to try and limit the damage done by people like JK Rowling with their massive reach and influence but I'm a cis man and not directly impacted by it. If it's this hard for me then I can't imagine what it's like having to live with it as a trans person but I do know it makes me want to fight harder. 💜
At the risk of sounding insensitive, I don't really buy it when Rowling claims that she's not trying to garner sympathy by opening up about being a survivor of sexual assault in her essay. Ironically, the first thing I thought of was the time Kevin Spacey decided to come out of the closet following the allegations against him. Maybe it's a little unfair to liken Rowling, a victim, to a perpetrator of abuse, but they're both cases of celebs trying to make excuses for their shittiness.
Abuse is a reason for a behavior not an excuse. I have met many, many people who are racist towards black people because a black person commited a crime against them. I literally look at them like they are stupid as they explain themselves. I then tell them they are dumb for equating an entire group of people with one criminal. It’s like they don’t realize if they lived somewhere with a different ethnic diversity, they would be hating an entire different group of people for having one person assaulting them. If someone of a race or gender assaults you, and you become hateful towards all people of that group, it makes you a bigot. A pathetic small minded bigot.
I completely agree. Look, it’s one thing to feel a way but you can recognize that you’re wrong and work to change yourself. If you’ve been attacked by a person, it’s normal (especially soon after) to have an emotional response when around a person that reminds you of them but you logically have to know that it’s bigotry. She was attacked by a cis man and is now obviously incredibly sexist towards them (she views them as ‘the abusers’when it appears women are abusive almost if not as often), then uses her past as an excuse to make a shitty remark about inclusive language? How is menstruation a women only space for example, yet that’s how she frames it.
Seriously? That’s disgusting. She was only bringing it up to express why she personally had concerns around same sex spaces. If she’d randomly said I’m concerned about same sex spaces it would have seemed weird so she had to give her reasons.
I genuinely feel bad that this was hard for you to make. Thank you for making this and sharing it. It even has me crying in a couple parts because I abhorred the male puberty I had to go through. It's affected so many things in my life from being able to have a "normal" childhood to making friends I keep for more than a few months to learning how to drive. And now that I'm finally ready to date, there's too many people who want nothing to do with me for not being born female. I like women, I've had to turn down a few men because I'm not interested, but I've yet to find even 1 woman who is interested in me.
Meanwhile, at the Rowlings residence, JK's personal assistant tries in vain to rip the phone away from her famous boss. Assitant, "Mrs, Rowlings, for the love of God, you are wrecking your own legacy!!" JK Rowlings, "I don't care! Everyone must hear my every wandering pointless, ugly thought!!"
As a cis straight woman, I want to thank you for your fair, concise, and educated explanations about trans people and transphobia. I want to learn. I want to understand the world from your point of view. And I want to do everything in my power to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. You’re beautiful! Don’t let the haters get you down.
Thank you so much for going through this. I rage quit reading it 2/3 of the way through when she said trans men were born women =_= I just don't know how to argue/educate TERFs. It's so exhausting. Why are they so obsessed with other people's gender!!? Every time someone brings up the bathroom thing, I think about how so many bathrooms are set up here in Japan. There will usually be a few little rooms with a sink and toilet inside the room and they're ALL unisex
Reminds me of the oodles of research anti-vaxxers do. Quantity of research done does not mean you will output quality work. To quote an old computing axiom: garbage in, garbage out.
She clearly did far more research than most of us ever do on this subject. It was a pretty tight essay that came to a conclusion many of us disagree with.
I love how JKR assumes trans guys these days don’t listen to music, or do art or else we wouldn’t transition Joann it’s so much easier for me to hear music and create now that I’m living as a man, no amount of music would have made me a woman
I legit stopped watching another video to go watch this because I value your thoughts on this so much. This cis woman stands with her trans sisters! We are stronger together!
I know so little about trans issues and am trying to do more to understand. Thank you for giving of your time and emotional labor to provide people with this content. I really appreciate it and will be watching more of your videos. I hope you were able to take some time to rest and restore yourself.
I can feel my blood BOILING as soon as she starts discussing trans men. I remember my dad (actually my first stepdad but the only paternal figure I still speak to) - while competent as he was as a parent - refused to accept me being nonbinary, or the concept in general. He has a very binary view of the world - somewhat appropriate for someone who works in IT, despite the existence of hexidecimal proving that even in computing, binary is not the only format. Getting back to the point, my medical transition was probably delayed by about two years because my abusive stepfather-figure (between the years of 2013 when he met my mother and the summer of 2018 when he and my mother divorced months after finally marrying) made me feel like I was no longer welcome in my own mother's home, and when I lived with my dad I was essentially isolated in terms of both social life and any genuine empathy, as there were things we never saw eye to eye on. Mainly my gender. Because at first, I didn't want to medically transition. I remember the day when I went into his study, wringing my cuffs in uncertainty, asking how he would feel about me medically transitioning. He essentially asked me if I thought I was 'overthinking things' regarding my gender identity, 'because of all the problems of being a girl', and was told 'men have their problems too'. Yeah, no shit, Dad - but have you wondered which shit I'd RATHER put up with??? It took me far too long to get access to therapy and on the waiting list for just my first gender consultation appointment, and if my dad had actually listened and HELPED ME, maybe I would have gotten there sooner. (For those curious, I'm back to living with my mother in Wales, I'm just a bus ride away from my therapist when she starts taking patients again, and I'm MUCH... Well, I wouldn't say happier, with everything going on, but definitely more accepted and supported.)
I'm in IT, and I have no difficulty in comprehending non-binary. :) I'm glad your situation has improved. As a father, I find it difficult to comprehend any parent that can't just *accept their kids* for the wonderful people they are - that's a "lived experience" I can't relate to and one I don't want to relate to for that matter.
I just came here to make sure the positive comments overwhelmingly outnumber the negative ones. Your pain was palpable and came through the screen. Jessie, even your INTRO was good. Rock on and stay strong
Your video is amazing, thank you so much for it. I am a brazilian cis woman and still JK's statements deeply affected and hurt me. There were so many wrong things in her essay, and I even noticed some from a health professional perspective - which I am - so I looked for a response essay and found your video. It was very cathartic to watch and I am sure it was very hard for you to make it. Again, thank you very much for your work!
I was directed here by a tumblr post commenting on JKR's recent tweets - someone recommended your videos and I wanted to understand the issue better. Thank you for putting in so much work to make this video so educational and informative - and especially thank you for making me even more aware of the ways TERFs may use manipulative and misleading language that directly harms trans people, and helping me recognise it better. It'll certainly help me to better understand why exactly certain messages are so harmful. I'm absolutely going to check out your other videos on trans issues as soon as I'm able. Last but not least, I know the video is over a year old, but I hope you're well. And I hope that in time, more and more cis women realise that all of us women, trans or not, fight for the same thing - the right to be a woman the way we want to be. (On a side note, I noticed how in the essay JKR consistently portrays AMAB people as inherently predatory, and AFAB people as the victims. which of course is a whole other can of worms. anyways I'm just rambling. thank you again for this video ♡)
Thank you. I am not a hugger, but I want you to feel very hugged when you read this, and I want you to know that I see you are a truly beautiful person. Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts in this way.
You write it well, all the time, every time. And I get you, there's other fights to be had, other things to spend energy on, but... Here I stand, I can do no other.
This video hits home in so many ways, I am proud of you for making it. I don't know if I could. I am also a trans woman, my youtube channel is very small but I get online harassment and transphobia in the few videos I have posted too and knowing from experience that a large portion of my comments are going to be arguing against my womanhood just for me being visible in my videos is just one of many reasons why I rarely post because I don't want to have to deal with more of those. Sending hugs to you and again thank you for making this in depth breakdown video of JK's bad arguments and misleading framing!
I was struggling to even get through the essay, all my respect for you for to be shooting and editing this video. Let your voice be heard, we‘ll be shouting along with you
Why would any "fake trans" sex criminal go through the hassle of crossdressing and assaulting someone in a place where anyone can accidentally walk in and interfere? Unlit parks and alleys exist. Also the places that host public restrooms usually have security guards or CCTV nearby, making them horrible for doing any kind of violent crime. If bathrooms were any good crime locations they'd already be infested by cis criminals doing mugging, theft or homosexual sex crimes. This bathroom anxiety is so contrived anyone who seriously worries about it needs to touch grass asap.
EXACTLY! It's like these people who make the arguments forget that Occam's Razor exists; the simplest explanation requiring the least amount of assumptions is usually the correct one. Why on earth would ANYONE go through the trouble and the long-winded efforts just to dress up and go hurt someone in a bathroom? Why would any man, who has been born and brought up with the thought that they are owed everything, feel the need to 'dress up' in order to get access? It isn't like those doors actually lock most of the time, and there's no armed guard outside preventing a man from entering. If a man wants to go inside, believe me, they fucking will. The argument is ridiculous.
As a cis man I can’t pretend to know what you’re going through, but I share your anger and disgust at JK Rowling and all the crap human beings put other human beings through. I’m not really sure how to word this... just take care and know that I stand beside you.
If JK was a book character people would be complaining because it's the cliché case of a character being talented, altruist, inteligent and almost perfect, and then just get a huge flaw slaped as an atempt to make it a 3d person... Well, turns out she is real, turns out those kind of people do exist.
I just feel the need to say a few things, even I felt furious and in need to respond to her latest essay. Even I couldn't stay silent after all the STILL transphobic bs she's thrown together. I've been studying about trans issues, gender, sex and sexual orientation for years now, and I feel extremely defensive over all my trans siblings! (Other LGBT siblings too, but especially trans.) Especially seeing everything they actually go through, how could I not?! I mean I have always been supportive of all my human siblings in general, but after these tweets I am left furious! Especially the last whole essay. I feel your pain and frustration in these videos, as you try to explain the reality (btw, I completely agree with everything you said, great job!). I feel the need to also add, just in case you need to hear it: You are very valid and accepted as who you ARE, I mean you already know this yourself but also many people know: you're just like any other woman, same and different, and there are a lot of people fighting for your rights in so many ways. You are not alone, despite all the hate that you get, there are many people who stand against that hate and stand with you, and even fight for you! Because unfortunately the fight is still needed. I personally will never be silent either and will always stand up for the oppressed, for anyone with less rights, for anyone hurt, harassed, abused, invalidated etc. I have retweeted her essay with my own short essay posted on Tumblr, if you'd like to see it, hope it brings you some hope and at least some calm: twitter.com/TigerTalented/status/1271149532307492866?s=20 You are definitely not alone, besides countless trans people fighting for the rights, there are countless allies, as you've probably already seen, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Eddie Redmayne, also Jameela Jamil, an amazing woman fighting for so many right things today too (including body positivity). I just really felt the need to talk to you personally as I understand your struggles enough to see... Even just that awful dehumanising hate you get just for being trans is enough to know enough! And that you should know you are not alone! That you are appreciated, accepted, seen as YOU! I apologise if in any way I ended up offensive, I apologise for being all over the place and a total mess, I don't speak to anyone these days any more due to all of the events, in my personal life and the world events, but just like you I feel such urge to stand up against this, and stand up for you. I hope I did right. I really wish you all the support, if you need any.
So sorry to hear about personal attacks you have recieved. Damn people can be shits. I hope you can remain getting pleasure from Harry Potter. Don't know what books you like but check out Gail Carriger Parasol protectorate series awesome in my opinion x.
Beautiful essay Jessie‼️🌟❤️🏳️🌈 I support your struggle, your courage. I admire your eloquence. Every word worked. Rowling is turning into the reincarnation of Mary Whitehouse (for you Brits, or Phyllis Schlafly for you Americans). A smiling “hip” conservatism that doesn’t dare say its name. A redressed exclusionary traditionalist binary mindset. She has joined the ideas of the Malfoys, as if the only “real” women are “pure blooded.” There are SO many logical fallacies in her text it would make a Vulcan cringe. 🖖🏼 Like the prerequisite 2nd-wave feminist namedropping of Simone De Beauvoir. Has she actually read “The Second Sex?” I have, it’s very dated (it was written in France in 1949 after all). Most galling that she should emit this essay right in the middle of Pride Month too...
Edit: I added the quotes around “real” because I want to make sure that people got that was being ironic and pointing out JKR’s own odd contradictions... But I know I overuse quotation marks. But not as much as I overuse emoticons... 🙄😜⭐️🏳️🌈❤️
The whole bathroom argument is particularly wild to me since it doesn't take into account that trans men exist. For arguments sake, if TERFs got their way and everyone had to use the bathroom of their birth gender assignment, what the fresh hell are these fools gonna do if a trans man who passes as cis has to go into their precious womyn facility???? For all their squawking about protecting women they sure don't seem to care that women are the primary target of their vitriol.
It's ridiculous in fact, because it would actively make it easier for a cis man to abuse. Instead of dressing like a woman and getting a gender recognition certificate, he could just say he's a trans man.
Somehow the simple words “never to talk over you” finally got me out of my anger and I started just weeping. I think it’s your honesty, bravery, and caring, really. (I cry at protests, tbh 😉) I always love your wisdom and common sense, Jessie (incl on the subject of sci fi!) and this one is out of the park. Your arguments are so well supported and clear. Please know your anger is wholeheartedly felt and supported by this cis white woman. I felt pretty well informed before, but this is an hour I still needed. You are teaching me so much, especially about the best ways to argue against this weird “movement” that is so seemingly implacable, and I appreciate it enormously. I’m sure the message will go out immeasurably beyond your viewers. It needs a wider audience. All the ❤️, and please take good care of yourself first, as they say.
The audio is not a problem at all. While polished audio quality is great, it's also nice and grounding to hear the physical space someone is in from time to time.
Honestly, the more distanced audio helped me keep a bit of an emotional distance from all the awfulness of the subject, I would probably feel significantly more drained without that kind of filter.
I don't think this was a waste of time at all. I think this is the best, most respectful, educational video I have seen a long time. It is amazing and touching that you can be so passionate and supportive while not reducing to malicious attacks and vitriol against those you disagree with. The fact that you can give Rowling credit where credit is due while also dismantling the harmful, untruthful and/or ignorant things she says with logic, reason, and compassion makes my heart swell. As someone who is personally ignorant of the much of the trans community's struggles, I am so glad I decided to watch this. You make an excellent teacher.
Thank you for this video, your pain is palpable and I could see how hard this was for you at times. I myself have to work to avoid feeling resentment at the lack of information, education and care that, had I received it, could've meant I lived as my authentic self from much younger age. Your ability to remain fair and impartial is admirable, especially considering the people you speak about often do not pay you the same courtesy. The work you're doing its really important and appreciated.
This got reccommended to me, and I am *so* thankful for you going through this as calmly and rationally as you did. I too forced myself to read JK's "essay" so I was aware of what was going on. As a slowly coming out enby when this came up in my Twitter feed I found that I was barely paying attention to the manipulation when she brought ASD into it on top of her transphobia it just about destroyed me. Thank you for being so strong and going through this intense issue to share everything that everyone needs to know.
Never apologize for the length of a video in which you speak so passionately about the issues that are important to you. Thank you so much for sharing this invaluable resource as well as your own personal journey as a trans woman. 💜
Thank you for making this. I know this is hard on you.You've thoroughly dismantled JKR's "arguments", such as they are * derisive snort * and you've done so much more respectfully than she made them (and much more respectfully than I'd have done in your place). You are an astonishing, wonderful person and a better fan than JKR deserves at this point imho. I've wasted the last few hours argueing with transphobes online and I am so f#*king spent right now...
I think I’ve witnessed a couple of those, Galvion. Remember those keyboard warriors have endless hours to spend, through no virtue of their own. Clean up, champion. And Thanks from a cis male with a trans friend.
Growing up female, socially, emotionally and physically does give me a different experience from a transgender woman. I think many women are cautious about cis female spaces changing and sadly trans women who don't pass easily or are early in transition make many women uncomfortable. With more information and representation hopefully the future will be more optimistic.
I found you a few days back just because of Star Trek Content. Now I find myself binging your videos and learning so much. Please know that you reached me, that you taught me a lot. And I now have another recourse that I can point people to if words fail me or if I feel it’s not my place to talk about certain issues. Thank you for your time and energy. Love from Germany.
Commenting in the middle of the video here, which is probably a bad idea, but it needs to be said that there's no one simple, reasonable thing that all trans activists are asking for. Activism encompasses basically everyone with a voice, and on the internet, that will always include bad faith actors. Just think what a Russian troll might say masquerading as a trans woman. I get the sense JK Rowling has experienced that dark side of progressives politics more than the rest of us. This doesn't excuse her. But her media landscape, the ideology with which she has become surrounded, is important context. My takeaway from all this is that Twitter is toxic, Twitter is actively harmful to collective understanding, Twitter should be avoided.
I felt that way about Twitter years ago. On the subject of the more toxic elements of trans activism, I have seen it but the actions of individuals shouldn't cause one to tar an entire group of people with the same brush, and as a cis-hetero male I can say that in my experiences transphobes are a lot more vocal and toxic than trans activists by quite a large margin. The most toxic thing I saw a trans activist do was when Essence of Thought (I don't their real name) doxed and harassed Stephen Woodford for his video on Trans people in sport, and his friend Rachel Oates for not denouncing him, to the point that Rachel was driven to self-harm and it set back her mental health issues a long way, all for the single reason that she wouldn't denounce Woodford. Woodford even admitted that certain comments he made were incorrect and acknowledged this fact, but Essence of Thought continued the harassment and encouraged others to harass. Anyway, seeing this did horrify me a lot, but it didn't change my mind about trans people or trans activists in general, and why on Earth should it!? Accusing all trans activists or all trans people of being toxic and dangerous is frankly no different to labelling all BLM supporters as looters, criminals and terrorists. The reason they highlight examples of toxic individuals doing things in the name of trans rights is because in their view how an argument is fought over is more important than the argument itself. But the means don't justify the ends, and examples of some activists acting in bad faith does not take away from the point being made, which is that trans people are marginalised and suffering because society is a cruel mistress. To claim any differently is dishonest at best.
@@lloroshastar6347 I agree with you 100%! When it comes to harassment, though, it's not about nameable activists. It's about how many thousands of pseudonymous randos pile on. I haven't experienced this myself, and you probably haven't either. I think you'd have to be famous (or at least Twitter famous) for there to be enough randos even seeing your stuff. Rowling though, she's plenty famous. She definitely experiences way more social pressure, even real world consequences, for saying anything publicly. So being famous on Twitter seems to be the best way to generate hate mobs. I'm not sure what's the point of being on Twitter if you're not trying to be more famous. Being part of hate mobs I guess? Doesn't appeal to me, but maybe some people are into it...
Thank you so much Jessie, I've been recommending your videos to my friends and peers to help them understand why JKRs comments are so horrible.I I've had to fight with so many people this last week to protect a trans person I love dearly, I'm exhusted, I can't imagine how trying and frustrating and hurtful this has been for you. Again, thank you so much for your videos. Sending you much love.
Wow, I am really enjoying your videos. You are such an honest person, able to concede points to the 'other side' ( by acknowledging that trans activists may attack online) but then skillfully and (quiet frankly, rightly) putting it in context (that vitriol and attack happens on both sides and how that cannot be the sole basis of JK argument). This video again, is broadening my thinking and my mind. You're amazing gal 💗
Thank you for this video. It is hard to see you (understandably) getting riled up so much about this issue. Me being a straight cis-male, I understand quite little about the subject, but now I saw what it does to the people it concerns. Stay strong, Jessie! We will win this fight.
Jessie, thank you for making this video. I can imagine how hard it must have been to record it. I am a cis male and want to be an ally to the trans community. Thank you for educating others on the issue. 💙
This video is SO good, SO moving, and I’m incredibly grateful Jessie took the time to make it. It helped me understand the misdirection of RK Rowling’s arguments, and the real life bigotry and dangers that trans folks face every day. I was recently at a dinner with some friends who had listened to a Podcast, “The Witch Trials of RK Rowling,” that glossed over the harm that her statements have made. I sent them this video, and Jessie’s clear, well articulated response to JK’s essay had an immediate and profound impact. They told me that the podcast had left a lot out about what JK has actually said and done with her actions towards trans people, and I was so grateful this resource was available to share with them at that time. A dear teacher of mine once said, “you never truly know the impact your work will have, your only responsibility is to keep making it.” Thank you for all your work, Jessie. It’s already had a huge impact on my own life, and those around me.
You're one of my favorite youtubers simply because you give me hope. I hate debates and arguments about human rights and politics because they're just so anxiety inducing for me, but the videos you and some other youtubers make about these subjects do not make me uncomfortable or uneasy in the slightest. And you give me hope that sometime, somewhere, someday, things will change and we'll be able to live peacefully.
This is so sad, we just want to be part of socity and live our lives as everyone else. Transwoman are woman, Transman are man. Is this really this hard??
A good thing that came out of all this was me finding your channel a few days back. I'm in a country where getting any sort of medical help for transitioning is very, very hard. Your little space here on youtube makes me feel happier. Thank you for making this important video and I'm sorry you had to read through that essay so many times. By the way, you always dress so well! Love this style on you!
I read her essay and there is a lot to unpack in it. I know how emotionally exhausting it can be to address controversies that strike close to home. Still watching and this is helping my interpretation and education as well. Thank you so much for sharing your insights!
This was informative. Thank you, I’ve been wanting to understand the harm of JK Rowling’s statements and why people are boycotting the wizarding world IP.
In regards to bathroom bills: Why are people so mad at trans people instead of, oh I don’t know, ACTUALLY GETTING MAD AT AND PUNISHING THE PEOPLE WHO COMMIT SEXUAL ASSAULT?!
Just to be clear I am angry about the people actually perpatrating crimes and not the Trans community. However I have had an experience with someone identifying as Trans to manipulate and cause harm. I myself an gender fluid... I was expressing the fear that I had about something I don't really have control anyway. As I have said if someone is going to commit a crime they will and it has nothing really to do with the Trans community. I support you all in you need for Safety.
What bothers me is, if someone is going to assault a person in a bathroom, they aren’t going to let a little thing like rules stop them. It’s just infuriatingly funny to me the illogicality of a person who thinks a rapist needs permission to enter a room before they can rape someone, like they’re some kind of “Swiper no swiping” vampire or something.
I know right?! The people who claim bathroom bills "protect women" are the same people who say a woman who's blackout drunk can still consent to sex 😠
It's more fun coming up with ridiculous theories--even heard this: Pro trans in bathroom bills (aka before these come on the scene in response to the needs of ultra conservatives for a new wedge issue), cis men will actually dress up in drag to assault women. Honestly I have heard this bizarre concept.
Gendered bathrooms are silly anyway
Quick note: The percentage of detransitioners includes trans people who were forced to stop or delay transitiondue to external factors such as medical conditions and transphobia
I never considered that. Thanks for the info.
so an inflated figure
Wow that actually makes so much sense.
And being denied medicaid. Like me who was three years on hrt until I turned 19 and dropped out of high school and was dealing with health issues and they forced me off medicaid because I was no longer going to school.
Went without for four years until I started getting kidney disease and stage two high blood pressure and was put back on medicaid.
Another thing about puberty blockers. Some children start hitting puberty way too early in their development and they are given the exact same puberty blockers in order to let them be children for a bit longer. If puberty blockers are so irreversibly dangerous (in TERFs minds) why aren't they talking about this side of things? Why are they only focusing on trans children? Hmm, what could it possibly be?
terfs want children (girls) to be recruited.
hormone replacement therapy is potentially irreversible.
www.nps.org.au/australian-prescriber/articles/prescribing-for-transgender-patients
@@haruhisuzumiya6650 Do ya' fucking see that what you did was either a mistake or extremely dishonest? Commenter talks about puberty blockers and you switch to hormone therapy being irreversible and link to an article that FUCKING SAYS puberty blockers are reversible.
Then there are transphobes who like try to argue that trans people who transition early (right before or in the earliest stages of puberty) are getting all these surgeries to irreversibly change their body, supposedly in a forced manner by "woke parents." Meanwhile, when the discussion about forced bodily changes on children comes to intersex children, not one of them ever acknowledges the fact that intersex people have sex-determining procedures forced on them before they can consent to a sex matching their gender identity. Nor do they ever seem to acknowledge that their parents usually force them into an assigned gender identity, deciding their gender for them. They also seem to project what actually happens to plenty of intersex people as children onto trans teens, and assume the same or similar thing happens to trans people.
@@haruhisuzumiya6650 hormone therapy is not the same thing as puberty blockers.
Early puberty can be really damaging not only socially, but physically and psychologically. People acting gross towards children because they are “developed”, for example. My little sis is 9, but she looks 14, and I’m already dreading the bs that may come her way.
Increase in chance of getting breast cancer is also a thing that happens. Puberty blockers can be a great solution, we just need to stop demonizing them and invest more in research and development.
I hope I am not intruding. I am a straight male. I was introduced through friends to a lady named Tasha. Tasha was a full op trans-sexual. She was one of my best friends eventually. I was surprised by her own trans-phobia. She talked about herself as a freak. I accepted her as Tasha. She committed suicide because of her feelings. I will always remember her. She was a friend and I enjoyed that friendship. It hurt me when it was gone.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ sendinglove
💔 Condolences for Tasha. ~ Internalized prejudice/phobias due to cultural discrimination is a serious issue. I'm a cis-lesbian & have been suicidal because of this self-hatred, just wanting to be "normal". 🥺
Inclusivity, understanding, & support of all genders & orientations as human beings helps us all.
Dang, I’m sorry to hear that, I hope things get better for you😔❤️
We don’t need to know that Tasha was post op, full op, pre op, what have you.. it is kind of disrespectful to include personal details like that, just for future reference. My condolences for your loss
I'm so sorry for your loss. May Tasha rest in peace.
As a cis man who was abused by a cis woman I feel so much solidarity with trans people against these toxic arguments in feminist discourse.
The fear that those assigned male at birth who transition are a threat are rooted in the same arguments that excluded me from discussing abuse I suffered.
It's essentialist. This was littered into 2nd wave feminist thought which i think is why some of the most prominent feminists from that era, like Germaine Greer, cling to TERF talking points. It's why it's only people with vaginas who are vulnerable and why only people with penises can be abusers. This isn't reality it's essentialism and is the reason why third wave feminism was such a gift. You were so right in how you talked about the importance of intersectionality.
You are right that TERFs represent an ever shrinking population. I admit it often doesn't feel that way here in the UK. But videos as clear and thorough as this keep me hopeful.
You have my sympathy as a trans woman. It's tough. Cis men don't face constant threat of harrassment or abuse the way women do, but that means that the ones who do experience abuse have a very difficult time getting heard. I'm not immune to this thought myself, I haven't always been fair to either cis men or trans men post transition.
It is sad that it happened to you, but why it feels like you implying that there's a great number of such cases and that women aren't abused wat way more
@@ДаняТаргарян I didn't imply that.
What you are doing is "whataboutism". Male abuse victims all know women are more likely to have those experiences. Sharing our experiences is not a denial of anyone else's. This is actually something I hear a lot. I know you don't mean harm but it is minimising to see this.
also, this happens more often than you think. We are not encouraged to think of it as abuse when female teachers rape underage boys for example. The problem is that people refuse to think of men and boys as victims and give excuses to female predators.
I don't know who this is, but it's a good video: ua-cam.com/video/e-UzxbPUur4/v-deo.html
Boys are far less likely to come forward and so people don't often think it's a problem.
Incidentally, As a feminist it is also extremely depressing that other feminists think I'm an antifeminist if I ever talk about this. It's a constant fear when I'm in feminist spaces. I care a lot about fighting for equality so it does hurt that people can be so weird about be mentioning what happened to me, whatever the context. I have a lot of feminist friends who don't minimise me and see me as an ally and themselves as allies to me. But it's difficult to trust people.
That last part isn't directed at you. just a thought I had reading back all the replies.
@@Zernium Thank you, that means a lot. We only succeed if we all fight for each other!
I wish more cis women and men were understanding of and compassionate to male victims of abuse... it’s already so hard for anyone to talk about their abuse, and for men to have to worry that it’ll be discounted by the people they open up to is absolutely awful...
JK doesn’t understand trans people at all, I was raised by women, adore women, grew up thinking women were so strong and beautiful and it was empowering to be one. I am still a feminist after the realization that I was a man. I didn’t transition because I felt “oppressed,” I felt genuine dysphoria and idk what it’s going to take to convince people of this
Preach!
Laz Arus oh no, you got me! ):
My life in a nutshell
the idea that transgender people are the least oppressed people around is laughable.
I wish our genders could just be accepted as they are without questions...like, my gender shouldn't need to be proven, or explained... Like, why do we need to owe anyone that?
“Men who get sexual kicks from being treated like women”. Darling, I’m asexual, I don’t get sexual kicks
We are so diverse, making generalization about us is ridiculous.
to be fair, I don't even think she grasps the concept of asexuality if she clearly struggles with trans people lol
Ay!!! I’m ace too!!!!!!
I love this comment. You rock!
Who knew kicking could be so sexual lol
I'm a hardcore feminist and I've never understood what the problem with trans women is. Like how can you belong to group that has been oppressed and then try to oppress others? I'm so sorry that you have to go through this, I wish we were already past this. *Hugs*
it seems a lot are women that just hate anyone born male
With your view you are not a hardcore feminist
@@teiashort1451 Not a real scotsman?
@@teiashort1451 They are, they just aren't a terf. Terfs aren't really feminists, as far as I'm concerned. You can't be a feminist while deliberately excluding a large section of women.
Well and people in the trans community are again oppressing others too. It is almost like people are individuals. Anyone can bully/oppress anyone. Being part of any minority does not give you the right to oppress or bully others. I am sure 99.9% of the people want equality, but what we disagree on is the road to it.
You explained why I still dress in dudes clothes and am terrified to act feminine. Especially living in KY, I feel like there is a real threat to my safety if I were to dress and act like a girl in public.
And yet, you are valid and you are a woman, even if you must hide that fact for your own safety ,just like many cis women had to hide their female status for their own safety throughout history...Didn't change the fact that they are/were women, doesn't change the fact that you are a woman. Be blessed!
We see you and we love you sister
I'm so sorry babe. You're a valid woman. We support you
It's a fucking mad ass world. You know, around this time last year (slightly under a year ago), I met the first out trans person in my life. The conversation went as follows:
"Here's x, y and z, and I'm Amy. Chose the name myself, tryna forget the other one."
"Oh, cool. Is that A-I-M-É-with-an-accent-E or A-M-Y?"
"A-M-Y, I wish I'd've known about the other one. It actually came from a videogame."
"Yeah, fair."
And then we got on great.
Fucking Hell, I'm a twat sometimes, but in that one aspect I hope I'm better than most I hear about.
I hear you sis! I live a long way away (Netherlands) but I swear if you would move here I'd make sure you'd be allowed to just look and dress and act whichever way you want and I'd defend you till death if anyone so much as looks at you sideways. I wish I could offer that to all trans people who feel like they can't be themselves where they live, but unfortunately I'm only one person and so many people live so far away...
By the way, I really don't want to come across as the "righteous cis woman savior coming to save the day", I just want to offer a safe space for someone who doesn't have one, regardless of my identity and that person's identity. We're all human and everyone deserves to live their life the way they want to live it. As long as you're not harming others, you have my undying alliance against injustice.
Love to you, Jessie. Do not apologise for the audio...Stay safe.
"'Harry, your eyesight really is awful,' said Hermione as she put on glasses." (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Ch. 4 'The Seven Potters.')
Hermione's called "she" while she had Harry's trouser tackle, and Harry's stubble and Harry's whatnot.
Because Hermione's still herself, a woman, no matter what body she's currently in.
JK's own books refute her, over and over.
Thank you for spending your emotional resources to make this excellent response, and for offering such amazing resources throughout your channel.
Anne Davis “It matters not what you are born but who you grow to be” Joanne Karen Rowling’s own books
@@noodlepoodle3582 Yup
Because surgery doesn't truly change gender when they cut your balls off and put hormones in you. Why should a polyjuice potion with the same effect make the narrator change pronouns? Hermione was still born female and this is temporary shapeshifting. Also, if you take the "grow to be" message and apply it literally to changing genes, that's a can of worms not worth opening. That message was about personality, not gender.
@@SeanWheeler100 are you lost? Must be so scary!
Ladies, Gentlemen and Honored Enbies, this comment thread has a clear winner!
I'm a trans man and I couldn't be more insulted by JKR on every possible front. If I had known about puberty blockers or even that transgender IS A THING THAT EXISTS I would have begged for them. Puberty was nightmare. My mom had to make sure I kept my nails cut short because I kept clawing at my skin.
And you were dead on about different gender experiences being equally valid. Most men will never what it's like to give birth. I do. I'm still a man.
JKR saying that girls just "decide" to be trans so they don't have to deal with misogyny is just ridiculous. I have to deal with transphobia, homophobia (I'm also gay), and still misogyny. Transitioning didn't make misogyny go away. And it's irrelevant because it had nothing to do with why I began transitioning. I did it because I'm a man. End of story.
You're beautiful, Jessie. And you have far more grace in the face of JKR's prejudice than I ever could.
As a cishet man I just want to say I wholeheartedly accept you into the brotherhood of dudes and offer you the manliest of hugs. I'm so glad you're able to live your authentic life now.
"I did it because I'm a man" I struggle when people say this. How are you a man? Can you explain? In my mind, I am a man because I have male anatomy. Am I wrong? Could I be a woman without knowing it?
@@tahaghassemi2381 I am not trans myself so of course I can't tell you that this is what it's like for sure, but imagine this:
You, with the same brain, mind, thoughts, feelings etc. are placed in a woman's body.. I would assume that despite you having a different body that you'd still see yourself as a man: not in the sense of your anatomy, but "in your brain" in the way you identify a.k.a. your gender would remain male.
And that's what I'm guessing it's like for trans people. Take for example a trans man, he might have been born in a woman's body, but just like you despite being (or in your case imagining) yourself in a woman's body, he would still be a man. It's a difficult concept to wrap your mind around, especially when your gender matches up with the biological sex you are born as, but people have been experiencing this for centuries, so it would be wrong to assume it's all just "fake" or something.
I hope this helped you understand the topic in some way and I'd recommend you listen to trans people's experiences too and not just my attempt at explaining it 😅🙈
Taha Ghassemi Taha Ghassemi for me, a trans man, I never got to a point of “I’m a man” instead I kept doing things that made me feel less horrible in my own body (bind my boobs, pick a new name, try new pronouns, get HRT) and those things that make me feel better made me what people will look at and assume to be male. I’m myself and that self seems to be what soceity calls a man
@@Towlapeiwa Whatever it is that allows you to live as your honest self. 😊
It took me a very long time to understand why everything felt wrong all of the time. I sometimes over-compensated by being overly feminine to convince myself and others that I was normal. In the process, I discovered that I like a lot of "feminine" things, which led to more confusion. It took a lot of time to really understand and accept myself. What society says is masculine/feminine changes constantly. Wearing makeup used to be a symbol of high class and wealth, not of gender. That's just one example.
Anyway, how you define yourself is your right as a person. You have the right to be honest about who you are and societal norms don't need to align with that.
After respectfully trying to talk some sense into JK Rowling myself for far too long here's how I see it:
She sees herself as a victim, all the time. Regardless of her own actions she simply MUST come out the other side as the victim because otherwise she'd have to face being wrong, and her psyche doesn't seem to be able to ever admit that. It doesn't matter how wrong she is, she must be right in some way, she MUST be the victim.
It's a very twisted thought process to conclude: My husband used to beat me, I'm afraid of men, transwomen used to be men, no transwomen ARE men, I'm afraid of men, therefore I hate transwomen, but if I SAY that I won't be the victim anymore, so transwomen MUST be doing something wrong because I'm the victim.
Hell, what she said was even hurtful to women like me who lost their uterus to cancer. She straight up said that makes me not a woman too, something I assure you gets leveled at a lot of us post hysterectomy. My sister (who was born infertile and had a hysterectomy at 20) was once asked by her friend's mom not to attend her friend's babyshower because it was for "real women only" and she didn't want to have anyone bring "bad luck" to the baby. I shit you not.
I just want to say to you and anyone else who took the moment to read this: You are valuable and I don't feel "threatened" by you in any way, shape, or form. You are important and the way you see yourself is valid. I don't feel like you're taking something away from me in some way. 🤗
Cass Lyris thanks for the kind words friendo. What happened to your sister was goddamn bullshit, and if I ever have a baby shower, I’m inviting whoever the hell I want, gender or sex or fuckin’ surgical history (STILL can’t wrap my mind around the “woman with no uterus = bad juju”, like wtf, we are NOT living in the European Dark Ages people, we have modern science and medicine and... ugh. whatever) be damned. I’M the one that’ll have been growing a goddamn NEW PERSON in my freaking body and getting my hormones all fucked up for close to a YEAR when all is said and done - I don’t give a shit WHAT is “proper” for a baby shower or not. There will be video games. And drinks. Nonalcoholic too, of course, but if I’m getting all my pals in one place we might as well make it fun. Or there’ll be an after-party, at least, once the fam clears out. I dunno. I got side-tracked here...
FULL SUPPORT TO YOU AND YOUR SIS. REPRODUCTIVE ABILITY DOES NOT A WOMAN MAKE.
@mosamosi Unflrtunately that’s where we are heading in society with this backwards logic these people use.
I just want to throw a story out about the bathroom thing:
At my college, they made all the women's bathrooms 'inclusive' bathrooms, they put this tiny plaque that stated only women and transwomen were allowed. In my opinion i like the attempt, but the inplication was dumb. My training route of medical care was primarily women, our bathroom was the one in that hall, the police academy shared our hall and it was mainly men. They didnt read the TINY plaque and just assumed the inclusive bathroom sign meant they could use it, several times ONE man would yell and kick out 5-6 women just so he could piss on our toilets alone and wreck the place. I was furious, i multiple times yelled at these guys they werent allowed, they didnt understand the meaning of inclusive to WOMEN, not them, a teacher of mine who was a 70+ yr old woman even understood the nuance and kicked them out as well. I would not have a problem with transwomen, they wouldnt act like that, literal territorial pissing on women's space, and when we reported these actions, the college's response was to just take away the signs... and that was just angering, because those guys basically jusy handed them an excuse to continue bigotry instead of being decent and reprimanding the perpetrators for breaking the social contract and giving proper training about what such words mean...
As dumb as it is, thats basically how i see these narrow arguements from people like rowlings stuff. You're not helping, you're making it worse, you're enabling that guy to kick women out of their space so he can just piss all over our seats -.-
So what is the definition of woman and transwoman that would effectively exclude these men from using those bathrooms? Like what would that training look like had they received such training? I'm only asking because I find your comment curious and don't exactly understand what you would want to happen?
naryainc not op but I can try to give a general answer? The definition I would use is that people who live as women are women, there’s still a little bit of ambiguity in that but it’s the most problem free. It immediately excludes men who don’t want to jokingly pretend to be women, those who would think it’s funny to pretend will get tired eventually and are also easy to spot, and people who are actually questioning would be welcome to use the women’s bathroom if it feels the most comfortable :)
This is all provided that they behave themselves of course, no one regardless of anatomy or identity should be allowed to behave like chimpanzees in a public bathroom :D I find it really odd that the administration didn’t just draw the line there.
@@jaybee158 What does it mean to live as a woman and how would you distinguish between people who live as women, men who jokingly pretend to be women, and people who are questioning? If two of those categories meet the criteria to use the women's bathroom, I am asking what the criteria is and how one of the categories does not meet them.
@@naryainc This is 8 months late, but: "live as a woman" = minimum of a social transition (aka dress as a woman, identify as a woman, and use women's spaces (or non-gendered spaces), if we're going with the medical requirement for gender surgery elligibility, then they need to have done that for at least 6 months. "men jokingly pretend to be women" = I'd assume that a guy who'd go through the pain to crossdress and be a drag queen just to get into that bathroom would be humored unless they start acting shitty, if they want to get into a clean bathroom *so bad* that they'd willingly crossdress the whole time. "people who are questioning" = people who don't know what their gender presentation is and might be trying things out and taking uncertain baby steps to try and figure out where they fit. Usually someone questioning their gender will have some level of gender-nonconforming clothes. ("Questioning" in this hypothetical might also be early trans men who haven't quite psyched themselves up to brave the men's bathroom yet and look like tomboy women.)
As for the training, I'd assume it'd be "don't be an eff'n smartass and piss all over the women's bathroom if you identify as a man, the "women and transwomen" sign doesn't eff'n mean it's now a mixed bathroom, get your ass out of there and If I get more complaints about you being an asshole there's going to be penalties."
@@naryainc If you seriously don't get the difference between men who are jokingly pretend to be women and people who live as women (whether cis or trans, non-binary, whatever) you probably have crossed so many trans people without realizing that they were trans because you can't begin to imagine what someone who actually passes might look like, along with being completely oblivious to the many examples the media (mainstream or not) over time has used when making jokes of men dressing up (and doing it badly, either by cheap wigs, badly fitting clothes, that kind of stuff) I'm not afraid this will be capable of being explained to you.
Given the backlash I see people (whether transfemale or transmale, though at times it looks as if transwomen have it worse) experience just because they transition, I don't see men being suddenly overly comfortable of just invading women's spaces, even if by jokingly pretending to be women because they will also face fierce oppression...
This is one of the best videos on this subject I have seen. I’m a straight cis gender non-conforming woman. People (including friends and family) have called me ‘cross-dresser’, ‘tomboy’, or simply that they ‘did not see me as a woman’... I am uncomfortable not only with traditional social gender roles (clothing, activities, language, etc), but also with some biological aspects of being female, like the possibility of pregnancy or breastfeeding. I do believe this is a form of dysphoria (possibly even gender dysphoria) and yet I’ve never felt the need or desire to transition, which proves that being trans is beyond ‘wanting to escape the oppression of being female’. Being trans, I believe (correct me if I’m wrong) is an innate sense of self and gender.
Ooooh Im so happy I read this.
There are so few voices like yours these days and so many of those few are troublingly transphobic and/or cynical.
There are a trillion ways to be a woman, none less valid than the other and noone gets to define your feminity but you.
GNC women unite!
From one GNC to another, keep in it.
Constanza, I watched two of your videos. You're much too good looking to be mistaken for a man. You are always smiling for the camera, a trait that I don't think many men have. Your command of written English is impeccable. Celebrate your individuality and don't worry about discomfort with pregnancy or breastfeeding. Perhaps you are chosen to lead a more adventurous life.
Wow, I never thought I’d be getting replies but thanks each and every one of you. I’ve always felt different, and in 2018 I discovered the label gender non-conforming through trans UA-camrs like Jackson Bird. I started following many trans UA-camrs and to some extent I identified with their experiences, and I’ll be forever grateful to them for visualising the things they go through. I confirmed what I’ve always known (that I’m not trans or gay, despite what people may think) but I found this label for myself and I tried to find GNC women on UA-cam and Instagram. I don’t often see many GNC straight women and I’ve always been self-conscious when it comes to dating, firstly because I was always made to feel like I wasn’t feminine enough for men to like me, and secondly because I’ve always felt a bit different regarding sexual attraction (I started identifying as demisexual last year when my ex broke up with me and I realised how hard it was for me to even be attracted to anyone but him). It’s not easy to be a woman, especially if you don’t conform to gender roles, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. Transitioning isn’t what I need but for some people it’s the best way to live their lives and I will support them and defend their right to have agency over their own bodies.
@@ConstanzaRigazio I feel everything you've written soooo hard. You're definitely not alone.
As a cis women, when I was around 16 I became uncomfortable with my body. I'd already had body insecurities, but these became more gender focused. On some days I wanted to appear masculine, I enjoyed my strong jawline and didn't like my small frame. On some days I wanted to be slim and feminine, I loved my long hair, but hated my deeper voice. Most days I wanted to neither or both, and felt conflicted about what I was, because I enjoyed some the masculine/feminine parts, but disliked others.
I thought I might be genderfluid, and experiemented with being called he/him and they/them. I experimented with how I dressed. My friend even bought me male boxers for my birthday, and on some days I tried flattening my chest with sports bras. I enjoyed being called they/them and he/him.
I later realised that I was infact in a very bad mental state, and I was unsure of my identity in general and had general body insecurities, and liked being called the different pronouns because I liked that my friends took me seriously when I expressed these feelings to them.
If I didnt have that opportunity to explore, then I think I wouldn't have identified the real cause of these feelings, and wouldn't have taken the steps to improve my mental health.
It took me a bit longer to realise why these issues manifested as being unsure about my gender. Yes, I'd heard about trans people, so that gave me language to explore these feelings. But I think it mostly stemmed from the idea that women must be feminine, and if they're not then there's an issue. This gender binary made me think that because I liked some masculine things, then I must be some flavour of trans. The trans community pushes for this to be abolished. It allows girls to have short hair and boys to wear skirts. These are things transphobes hate, which I believe had a majority cause of my gender related issue. Ironically, the ideas they're pushing caused me to almost go to my doctor and discuss transition when I'm actually just cis.
These are conclusions I had to come to on my own. No amount of shunning or legislation would have changed my mental state, it would just make it harder for me to overcome it.
Her take on trans-men is as frustrating as it is gross. A lot of trans-men didn't realize they were trans (myself included) growing up and just thought there were other issues with them (body dystopia, depression, self-loathing born solely out of institutional sexism, etc) because transgender men were missing from the conversation until very recently. Now that trans-men are starting to be talked about, more afab kids are realizing their internal struggles are trans related. Of course the numbers will rise. It's not some coercion from sinister doctors or friends. That whole section of the letter is as gross as the rest, but also negligent.
What are the internal struggles you experienced and realized were trans related as a transman? (if you don't mind me asking.)
naryainc not op but also a trans guy with a similar story! To me it was my decade long not-like-other-girls-phase that I later realized was a trans thing, not internalized misogyny or personal preference thing. Now that I’ve been seen as a man for a couple years I’ve also started to accept and embrace my more feminine interests and clothing style, and never felt more comfortable in my own skin! Gender sure is an adventure lol
@@jaybee158 Thanks for sharing your journey! And I'm glad you feel comfortable now.
@@jaybee158 Oh, and do you use the term gender identity? How would you define it? I haven't quite gotten a grasp of that term myself yet.
Stop attacking honest opinions in differing ideas. The truth is literally the opposite of your bias nonsense and not related to her ideas,
'If you don't want to date trans people, that's fine, most trans people don't want to date you anyways' - ACTUALLY laughed at that, bravo. It's just one of those little moments where the humour shines through despite the awful situation.
It echoed what I once said to some guy that was ranting about "queers" being predators and I asked him what made him think that gays would find him remotely attractive in the first place.
@Sacha Barbie That transphobia is rampant in our society. The same way in the 50s the percentage of white men who wanted to date black women was very low.
It's actually not a joke though - Honestly our big fear as trans people is encountering a transphobe. If you want to get depressed read about the trans panic defense - trans people, particularly trans women, can be murdered for disclosing they're trans and murdered for NOT disclosing they're trans and "trans/gay panic" is actually legal a defense in many states.
We want to stay as FAR from transphobes as possible and it's not just out of snark. Best case scenario we get emotionally abused, traumatised, dysphoric, misgendered and potentially feel suicidal. Worst case scenario the person murders us, whether we disclosed being trans or not, whether things became physical or not it's a massive risk. It's not safe for all of us to simply out ourselves on the internet or dating sites either. I really wish transphobes would put that on their dating profile because THEY won't get murdered for being transphobes but trans people have a high risk of being murdered, whether by a sexual/romantic partner or by neither, a complete stranger.
@Sacha Barbie Plenty in the experience of myself and my trans friends. And not only creepy fetishisers of trans people (trust me we can tell those a mile away). And all of my trans friends are out as trans, there's no surprises either. Don't believe the movies that get cisgender actors to try portray trans people and do it badly. We're more than a cis person cross-dressing. The trans people I've met often have very nuanced and individual perspectives on life and tend to not go for groupthink, given they've taken the real red pill about social constructs (the actual trans metaphor, based on the Matrix movie created by trans women, not the MRA misappropriation). It's tended to make them really cool to get to know, that they've experienced so much and had to question so much which is contrary to what social constructs we're taught in mainstream society and I love the nuances of those conversations, they're always refreshing to me.
So I'm a cis man and I'm just gonna drop a little story here. Years ago I did a summer internship at a local game studio and hit it off almost immediately with one of my coworkers, who was a really nerdy woman with whom I had tons in common.
One night we're all out for a few drinks and she confides to me that she's trans, and hasn't had surgery. My response was to kiss her. :P We made out a bit, then after everyone went home I went back to her place. Now unfortunately I just do not experience attraction to penises; I made it clear that was in no way personal, it's just the way I'm wired. She understood and we cuddled and talked all night.
I wouldn't have ruled out a nonsexual relationship, and we probably would have had sex had she had gender confirmation surgery, but the way things were at the time it just wasn't something I was comfortable with, and I don't know a single trans person who would say I should have forced myself to go along with it. We never really explored anything further after that but we're still friends. :)
My god you have the patience of a saint.
@Kara Middleton oh wow, do you curse a lot at problematic mysosinistic males or it is only women who deserve slurs? Why trans supporters are misgynists much
Jacoba Velencia
“Advocating prejudice and persecution”- real cute.
@@WAEVOICE What exactly is "cute" about that? Its exactly what Johanne is doing. Or is there some other way of interpreting her claim that making the alteration to someone's birth certificate gender marker take three months instead of two years will increase the amount of sexual assault?
@@quinnsinclair7028 lol, he had no answer
@@WAEVOICE Bringing ya back to see if you can elaborate on your claim
Thank you for this video. I'm a straight white nearly middle aged guy, I know nothing, but what stories people tell, and what comes up in the media. That is not a defence of some controversial view in about to espouse, I just wanted to say where I came from.
I fully support trans women, men, gender fluid - I feel people should be free to be themselves, being born one way or another doesn't always represent who someone really is. I've grown into this belief over twenty years. Sometimes I feel the world has been growing and learning these things right along with me... And other times that world keeps falling behind.
I first became aware of TERF ideology only a couple of years ago, sure I've known people that have said things as individuals, I've known people that simply couldn't wrap their heads around the idea of someone being different to the gender they were born as... But if never seen it as an organised set of beliefs. Anti-trans is something I associated with Conservative men, who also tended to be homophobic.
What opened my eyes was a lesbian and feminist group were barred from holding a meeting at my local town hall, they were openly expressing views that transwomen weren't real women. That really boggled my brain, if it had been some form religious right womens group, I wouldn't have been so shocked. I don't agree with them, but the thought process is pretty simple and expected. In my head, LGBT+ are people standing together, Pride is saying we're all different, but we're all valid, we're all human, we all deserve dignity. Maybe I'm too optimistic about humanity sometimes... Its an intellectual disconnect for me.
Maybe it shouldn't be though, feminism has a long history of a very narrowly defined view of who can be a feminist, there has been a distinct lack of representation of people of colour, and she that problem still exists today. "I'm fighting for my rights, but just my rights - you're not a good fit for us, so we're not fighting for you". And I realise obviously that's not the universal view, but from the outside it's pretty pervasive looking. To some degree, this feels an extension of that, but then more so, because its not just we won't fight for you, we will fight you, using the same tactics used against us when stood up.
I'm outsider I know, I can't truly get any of it, I've never lived any part of it other than as a bystander and occasional cheerleader for my friends and loved ones.
I'm sorry you had to make this video, I'm sorry you have to give so much of yourself and make yourself ill to do so. I'm glad you did though, and I hope plenty of people hear you, hear what you have to say, and stop to listen and try to understand.
Thank you
Also sorry that was so long
We need our allies! Thanks for your heartfelt positive eloquence‼️ 👍🏼🏳️🌈
(Cis-gay myself)
No one said feminists and lesbians are anti-trans. What has been said and is true, some few, (a relatively small few), feminists and lesbians are also TERFs and are anti-trans.
This recharacterisation of the facts, to present an argument everyone already agreed with, is the rhetoric that TERFs, chauvinists, and alt-right mouth pieces all use to convert the weak minded. The truth is dealing with a discussion on its merit is impossible because what they're arguing for has little merit. Those with genuine issues on either side which could have been discussed and a meeting of minds take place are lost in the kerfuffle.
We should listen to each other and raise the quality of debate so we can make the world better for us all.
I'm a cis man who proudly calls himself a feminist. Listening carefully to women like you is such an inspiration to learn more about this wholesome movement that is spreading massive change across society. Thank you so much for the clarity and consistency of your arguments. I could feel the pain in every word you said regardless of your inner strength to cope with these irrational attacks. Love always wins. My best regards from Buenos Aires, Argentina. You now have 1 more subscriber. Take good care!
We need more male feminists such as yourself. :)
@@emilymatthews2990 I too am a male feminist! :D I think we're not few either. And the world is just getting smarter.
@dilemma dream Men can be feminists. Feminism is about equal rights and opportunity for all, reagardless of gender, race, religion, sexual/romantic orientation etc. Men can be feminists, because supporting equality and working towards it is not only limited to women. Non-binary people can be feminists, demiboys can be feminists, demigirls can be feminists, agender people can be feminists. Your gender doesn't dictate whether you're "allowed" to be a feminist. Your actions do.
@dilemma dream They definently can be speaking as a woman. I had a college professor (male) that was raised by his feminist mother who he fought alongside with on many feminist causes.
@dilemma dream "males". Nice way to reduce human beings to their sex. That's not sexist at all lol
41:55 - Exactly. That exact thing happened some years ago at the community college I attended at the time. The sign on the women's bathroom did not deter the cis-male assailant from assaulting the cis-woman in that space.
As a trans man I’m absolutely disgusted that she thinks I wouldn’t and don’t care about women, I may not be one but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. I remember what I was treated like being read as a girl, I have many friends and family members that are women that I want to see treated better. Being a woman is hard yes, but it’s much harder when you aren’t one and are trying to be. Sorry for the rant but yeah, I care.
Sure, it's hard to expand what it means (or looks like) to be a man, I get it. But being constantly controlled and oppressed because you are a woman has nothing to do with gender and all to do with sex. Think about reproductive rights and rights to education, sex trafficking. These issues affect women because they are female, not because they are feminine.
@@naryainc This is very misinformed. Do you think a man who abuses women cares if they are cis or trans? Unless you think that one can always spot if a woman is trans or not, or that men have some way of knowing what genitals a woman has just by looking at her, this makes no sense. If you as a trans-woman, present as a woman, take on the appearance of a woman through hormones, clothing and/or surgery, for all intents and purposes society (as long as it sees you as a woman), will treat you as a woman, which is to say street harassment, sexual assault, catcalling, even rape, regardless of what your birth sex happens to be.
And if society doesn't see you as the gender you are, you face additional harassment on top of that, such as misgendering, deadnaming, lack of access to healthcare, being treated as not even human, and arguably even worse than cis women.
The point is, both cis and transwomen face great amounts of oppression in society, sometimes in similar ways, sometimes in different ways. It is not your place to deny this reality, just because you have been oppressed as well. I too, as an autistic man have faced horrible abuse from an ableist society, but that doesn't give me the right to erase the suffering of women, and especially trans-women in our society.
It's really ridiculous how terfs claim that trans people won't care about women's rights. Like, most binary trans people know what it's like to be treated as both a woman AND a man, so they literally have a better understanding of sexism than most cis people? and terfs think that trans people won't then care about gender equality? it defies reason
@@AriellaLilien yeah but what makes me more mad is they act like we’re asking for special treatment when we’re just trying to be ourselves
@@naryainc The reason women are oppressed is long and complicated and has next to nothing to do with anatomy. Anatomy has been linked with gender roles in some societies, but this does not mean the gender role is contingent on one’s anatomy.
JKR using the fact that she suffered domestic abuse at the hands of a cisgender male partner as an 'excuse' for then launching into an attack on transgender people is just so irrational and wrong. Instead of confronting cisgender males for their misogynistic violence she has instead elected to shift the blame to another group entirely - i.e. the transgender community - (including many of us who are transgender females and girls and also suffer misogynistic violence and discrimination). She couldn't have done a ''better' job of derailing feminism if she tried. Even if she, and people like her, did manage to completely take away the rights of trans people it would still not change the fact of misogynistic violence and discrimination one iota. Hating on trans people actually makes it worse because it emboldens the misogynist alpha male establishment - who are also transphobic as well as misogynistic. What she is doing is the very antithesis of feminism.
In short: she blames the oppressed for her opressor
I don't know. If someone of the male sex, unlike a transexual, still presenting a man or genderfluid, raging with testosterone, can legally be considered a woman, and people are pushing for even more relaxed laws, it does raise the question in terms of rape in prisons and frankly any men getting an eyeful in changing rooms.
It's a classic fallacious argument: I've had something terrible happen to me, therefore whatever I have to say is more valid because I'm a trauma survivor. The two just do not equivocate. Her abuse from a cisgender male partner do not give her any extra insight into transgender issues. Although it is brave of her to share her story of abuse, her essay is an inappropriate forum for that: it has nothing to do with the crux of what she's saying.
That's exactly what I was about to write. Couldn't have said it better :D
@Bigfilmhat Wow, dictionary.com, as everyone knows that is the forefront of scientific research. Every one of those descriptors of a male you just listed have a wide array of exceptions. XY chromosomes are not 100% consistent across those that develop male. There are many exceptions to that as there are to the others you listed.
@Jessie: I'm an old, white, hetero, cis man. It took me 3 hours to watch this video because I kept pausing to take notes and think about things. I experienced many emotions but the one that brings me to this comment was my gut reaction to your saying, in your exhaustion, that this video was a waste of your time. As hard as it was for you make, it was not a waste! It is difficult to overstate how important this was to me. Thank you for your courage, compassion, intelligence, and grace.
Love to all our trans siblings in the world, our existence is not a debate
Amen!
But your identity is.
We are valid, never forget that!
That's objectively untrue- at least the trans part. There are plenty of people who exist, whether any of them are transexual is under debate.
First Name Last Name
Unicorns are awesome, but I am not saying they are real. That’s you.
My gender is real and valid. Politely go duck off.
I can't believe how patient, kind and humane Jessie stays throughout this video. It's genuinely heartwarming and such a huge show of character and empathy. 100/10. Thank you so much for this video.
Anybody else here feeling that JKR's actions are all a cynical, calculated propaganda ploy? Step 1): Post an item of deliberately inflamatory "cancel bait"... Step 2) Wait for inevitable backlash, which will naturally also affect the people closely associated with you (Radcliffe, Watson, Redmayne et al) ...Step 3) Cherrypick the most emotional, rudest replies you get
4) Post your "reaction" essay to the backlash (that you had prepared beforehand???), weaponising your own history of trauma as well as the cherrypicked abuse you've received, linking the two in your audience's mind, thus painting all your opponents as abusers as well as framing yourself as a brave truthteller, abandoned and betrayed even by your associated you've deliberately drawn into the crossfire (Radcliffe etc.).
This is an established PR/propaganda tactic. I cannot see it any other way. There are four lights.
She posted the initial tweet during PRIDE MONTH , for god's sake! There's no way that wasn't deliberate!
Galvion Authirion DuGont Either way, this story has the same ending. JK Rowling has revealed herself to be a sad, pathetic, miserable woman
THIS. She is manipulative, every move is calculated and deliberate, and she is doing it all for attention.
Expect another book soon.
i for one believe twitter should be abolished. it is impossible for genuine discourse to take place on twitter. it makes it too easy for people with shitty views to pick out the most aggressive responses in 140 characters and paint themselves as the victim.
Thank you for this in depth break down. As a cis-man I feel extremely out of my depth on these issues but I had a gut feeling these comments by Rowling were hurtful. My cis-woman partner has these internal struggles with trans vs cis woman spaces so I'm trying my best to understand it. It's so confusing seeing all the support from cis-women for Rowling who all seem to think their spaces are under attack.
I don't care about what anyone says, if a behaviour or set of thoughts is hurting and dehumanizing other people, then it's bad and I don't want to associate with it. To me, a cis woman, the fact that trans women are suffering is more important than any argument used against their right to exist as women. I don't want in any way cause suffering to any human being, man, woman or nonbinary, I want the world to become a place where everyone can be themselves to the fullest. I really can't understand how for some people their hurtful opinions are more meaningful and worthy to be heard than the suffering that others go through, right in front of their eyes. I'm sorry for all the hurt J.K Rowling is causing, I'm just a random person from the internet but I want to tell all trans women who might read this comment, you girls are women as much as I am, valid as anybody else and worthy of rights. Take care!
Thank you
Literally nobody who isnt a psychopath is calling for 'trans people right to exist' trans people exist... i know that because we see them. This is just a crazy sentiment that words are causing trans women not to exist... its not lol. If you dont like someones opinion then move on. its freedom of association.
All my hugs Jessie! This must have been so hard to write and shoot.
This makes me so angry & sad. My 13-year-old is a trans boy. And I rarely, get a chance to release the pressure valve on my concern, not just for him but for all trans people. We should CELEBRATE the opening of societal acceptance norms of trans people. J.K. Rowling is so on the wrong side of history on this. Of course her experiences are valid. And her suffering is real. But for her to use her enormous platform to subtley propagate ant-trans perspectives is not just hurtful in general but powerfully impactful to those who follow her. I support you, as a trans woman. And as a heartfelt deep thinker. Love, Nikolas
Sending you love
JK was married to her abuser. My heart breaks that it happend to her but she has no right to use that to hurt trans women and trans men.
Just want to acknowledge that you did find the strength not only to come back and edit the video, but that some of those edits included material that is surely painful to you. I applaud your fortitude.
Given that JKR used Hermoine to show it is "wrong" to try and uplift oppressed people (the house elves) it's hardly surprising she is not sympathetic to the systemic oppression of trans people.
That woman really needs to get her priorities straight.
And standing up for women's rights is bad.... great to know I still live in a deeply misogynistic era.
@@naryainc Please elaborate on how we live in a deeply misogynistic era. I'd love to hear your take.
naryainc standing up for women’s rights isn’t a bad thing. Standing up for the rights of some women by attacking a different group of people that includes women is a bad thing. Especially if the reasons given for attacking said different group can be easily refuted.
@@PlanetZoidstar Any group focused on women's liberation has to be inclusive to men and transwomen, otherwise they are deemed hateful. Gender has always been a hierarchy and we used to know this, masculinity has always been valued more than femininity, and men more than women because we live in patriarchal societies (built for men by men long ago). Instead of freeing ourselves from gender (masc and fem) and its roles ( 70s) we have become more stricter than ever to encourage conformity to gender stereotypes. If a female toddler likes to have short hair and wear trousers instead of dresses, we are quick to label them wrong due to these GNC behaviour or interests (and even label them trans) as if boys and girls had to conform to gender roles and stereotypes because of their sex. That is the definition of sexism. Any woman (and there are many) who calls this out, questions how we are currently treating and medicalizing GNC youth, or mentions any difference between transwomen and women, or even mentions the word women when discussing female bodily functions gets labelled a hateful terf and is often fired from her job. Gender has been a patriarchal tool to oppress women, it has been used to make women conform to femininity (wearing dresses instead of pants in the 1800s, being ladylike and dependent on men). We have done a great deal to abolish this in the later half of the 20th c but are now starting to police conformity again. I hope that explains some of it.
@@Not_Pie Freedom of association is a human right, both individually and collectively. If you want to create an organization or club for only women where you want to discuss issues women face, you can. Second wave feminists fought hard for sex-segregated public spaces because men are a statistical threat to women, and today people seem to think sex doesn't matter anymore and it's somehow insulting to recognize sex as material reality.
When people feel attacked by scientifically accurate terminology ("people who menstruate" as in... "people who menstruate"? Saying otherwise isn't only offensive to trans people but also feminism in general, tbh) and connect the mere notion of transgender individuals to bathroom assaults _they are the problem_ . That is how discrimination and bias works and it's baffling how people like JKR perform mental acrobatics to assert a stance that is based on ignorance. Dear JKR and other Karens, no, you're not doing it "for the children", and no, nobody wants to take away your period rights or the concept of biological sex. You're just scared of what you don't understand. And bonus points for still coming out as "the victim".
So thank you for the very educational and surprisingly calm video, I wished nobody would have to discuss any of this and I'm hurting with you ❤️ Trans lives are valid, trans lives matter, and all of that should be obvious by now
I felt so bad during the part where you talk about your harassment. I mean, I'm not stupid, I guessed it. But I'm going to your videos inter alia, to feel safe and that's so sad and unfair that you are not.
I know you're tired, and sick, and feel like you're wasting your time. But watching that video wasn't a waste of time for me. It helped me a lot. Especially because you found the words to express my thoughts and now I am better equipped when having to confront people about that topic. Most of all, as a non-binary person that no one takes seriously (I not only mean misgendering, but most importantly no one think it's possible for someone not trans to don't recognize oneself in women hood. For them, I'm just a masculine girl that want attention) I'm glad to be able to back up my sayings with your video that I'm sending to my friends, and that help me sensibilized them to things that they won't believe if it was only coming from me. Like the validity of non binary identity, or the danger of misgendering. Actually, after sending your video, one of my closest friend has ask for my pronouns and it's the first time that ever happened to me. So, thank you so much for doing this, and, really, this video wasn't a waste for me. It meant so much!
Ps: as a French person, I have to say that I kind of winced a little at your prononciation of Simone de Beauvoir. But it was also kind of cute, I must say.
Your comment is so lovely, thank your for taking the time & spreading so much kindness ❤️ Had to genuinely smile haha
So according to JKR, menopause ended my time as a woman. I'll take that 28% pay bump, then!
History has proven OVER AND OVER AND OVER again that ensuring EVERYONE's rights are respected, increasing those people whose rights are respected better protects EVERYONE's rights. This is a no brainer. Thank you for another informative, well researched and open video Jessie. I haven't had the pleasure of knowing any trans people personally, I live in a really small town in Northern Ontario and so am not even certain if there are any trans people in my community (there may be who simply just live their lives and aren't advertising their gender identity or personal stories for whatever reason they have) and so I really appreciate you helping me become better informed about these issues. For example thanks to your videos I know more appropriate language to use, to avoid harming anyone, for when I do someday interact knowingly with a trans person. I thought it was worth telling you this so you have first-hand confirmation that the information you share isn't falling on deaf ears (I had seen/read on twitter some of the JKR situation/statements and was confused about some of it - as a cis-woman who stopped menstruating for about a dozen years I had a bit of a knee jerk reaction to the "People who menstruate" term since I thought, though It isn't being said, that it was inherently implying that I was, during that time, somehow less of a woman... Your clarification of the use of similar terms as more accurate language helped me realize that what I was hearing in that label was about my own insecurities and not related to when/where/how it was being used - like by organizations helping menstruating people in need or speaking to them about issues specific to menstruation). I really appreciate your courage and effort to help better inform all of us. Stay safe and healthy :)
@Iulia Ionela Petcu ? seriously your question would be laughable if it didn't have the potential to be so harmful to so many people. You do realize women's bathrooms in North America usually have stalls right? are you in the habit of trying to share other women's stalls? I usually just mind my business and don't care about who else is relieving themselves while I'm in the bathroom but when I hear a question like yours I have to be honest and say I am put off at the thought of anyone like yourself in the women's bathroom... Individuals who are apparently busy wondering about my genitalia instead of just going to the bathroom and minding their own business - frankly it's creepy, do you spend time pondering other people's genitalia everywhere you go in day-to-day life or just when you're in a public bathroom? Stop creeping about what's under other people's clothes and go about your business.
@@KarinaHunter Here in Germany we usually have one big changing room in Sport Studios etc. It is normal to see other women naked or at least in their underwear. Does that change the perception? Not the whole world is american.
This comment is however not meant to sound im against Transpeople using the Bathrooms/ Lockerrooms of the sex they identify with, i just feel this is a very complex issue.
Canada hates letting people have rights
Karina Hunter
Assuming what you just said isn’t her business.
Hey there! I'm a cis-man, and am a big fan of Rowling's work. I have (belatedly) come to know of this issue, and the argument surrounding it. I'm not at all well versed with the issue, and have been reading to educate myself about it. You have been very brave, very honest and very sensitive in the way you explained everything. Your video made me realise that not only is Rowling's essay disingenuous, it's actually harmful in a very real way. So thank you for putting up this video - as it allows people like me to gain some understanding of the issues involved and realise the damage that words can cause.
Thank you for making this video. As a cis male, I want to be an ally to the trans community.
This is a step in the right direction. :)
Educating yourself about the trans community is soooo important.
Respecting others’ pronouns is essential.
And being able to stand up against anything homophobic/transphobic is much needed.
I'm sorry JK was abused, that was a horrible thing that happened to her; but she does not get to abuse others because of it.
Enby's are valid, Trans Men are men, Trans Women are women.
She didn't abuse anyone. Just gave her opinion.
@First Name Last Name No one asked
Revya you meant to say that no one asked for facts
No, trans men are trans men. No matter how you chose to look at it. A male or female human being is made in the womb, it's not something that it possible to ever change completely. Denying that is denying biology and therefor reality itself. I will call a transman a man, if he has undergone change. But I will always know he's actually a human female (no shit).
What is an Enby? (Serious question, I don't want this to come across as rude) Does it mean non-binary?
As a fellow transwoman and someone who admires Rowling's impact on literature, it truly saddens me that she has spouted such narrow minded and bigoted rhetoric. It's ironic that the woman who tried to denonce bigotry in her writing could be so easily accused of it herself.
@Roy Ccc I know right, just like people who promote racist theories and racist talking points, they just have opinions... they are not bigoted at all.
@@evlynm in case it wasnt obvious that comment is sarcasm.
Trans people are just people who are trying to live their best lives like everyone else. And then some people have an issue with that.
Eh... Most who “have issue with it” are just critical (note: critical does not always mean condemnatory) of fluidity taking precedence over the binary in how we see and discuss sex and gender.
@@gillianomotoso328 That's because the binary is an oversimplification. This is the blog of a professor of biology: freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/?s=sex+binary
Gillian Omotoso In the video she explains how harmful this “criticism” is, all transphobia is dangerous and harmful to trans people
Gillian Omotoso Not to mention that trans people are most often not gender-fluid, but transphobes only want them to live in the part of that binary they deem fit, whether it’s based in science or not.
And gender fluid people are *valid*
We support you and all trans people Jessie. And it would seem Harry, Hermione and Newt stand with us as well 💗
@dilemma dream How so?
Cho also supports trans people and black lives matter.
Cheeky Breeky420 excellent support from all - Ginny also has positively added her voice.
And ginny and luna
I'm not for JK Rowling doing this all, your life matters Jessie #translivesmatter
The Multifaceted Shill what the piss are you on about
The Multifaceted Shill
I am not a women, but I am on the rag. Please shut the hell up.
Not gonna lie I was tearing up towards the end. I know how tired I get of having to have these conversations with people to try and limit the damage done by people like JK Rowling with their massive reach and influence but I'm a cis man and not directly impacted by it. If it's this hard for me then I can't imagine what it's like having to live with it as a trans person but I do know it makes me want to fight harder. 💜
At the risk of sounding insensitive, I don't really buy it when Rowling claims that she's not trying to garner sympathy by opening up about being a survivor of sexual assault in her essay. Ironically, the first thing I thought of was the time Kevin Spacey decided to come out of the closet following the allegations against him. Maybe it's a little unfair to liken Rowling, a victim, to a perpetrator of abuse, but they're both cases of celebs trying to make excuses for their shittiness.
Abuse is a reason for a behavior not an excuse. I have met many, many people who are racist towards black people because a black person commited a crime against them. I literally look at them like they are stupid as they explain themselves. I then tell them they are dumb for equating an entire group of people with one criminal. It’s like they don’t realize if they lived somewhere with a different ethnic diversity, they would be hating an entire different group of people for having one person assaulting them. If someone of a race or gender assaults you, and you become hateful towards all people of that group, it makes you a bigot. A pathetic small minded bigot.
And it's not like a trans woman assaulted her, so it's not even relevant.
I had the same thought!
I completely agree.
Look, it’s one thing to feel a way but you can recognize that you’re wrong and work to change yourself. If you’ve been attacked by a person, it’s normal (especially soon after) to have an emotional response when around a person that reminds you of them but you logically have to know that it’s bigotry.
She was attacked by a cis man and is now obviously incredibly sexist towards them (she views them as ‘the abusers’when it appears women are abusive almost if not as often), then uses her past as an excuse to make a shitty remark about inclusive language? How is menstruation a women only space for example, yet that’s how she frames it.
Seriously? That’s disgusting. She was only bringing it up to express why she personally had concerns around same sex spaces. If she’d randomly said I’m concerned about same sex spaces it would have seemed weird so she had to give her reasons.
Jessie that was perfect.
I stand with you and all of my Transgender brothers and sisters.
I'm a cis woman and I just wanted to say I stand with the LGBTQ community. I am really sorry that so many trans people get so much harassment.
I genuinely feel bad that this was hard for you to make. Thank you for making this and sharing it.
It even has me crying in a couple parts because I abhorred the male puberty I had to go through. It's affected so many things in my life from being able to have a "normal" childhood to making friends I keep for more than a few months to learning how to drive.
And now that I'm finally ready to date, there's too many people who want nothing to do with me for not being born female. I like women, I've had to turn down a few men because I'm not interested, but I've yet to find even 1 woman who is interested in me.
Meanwhile, at the Rowlings residence, JK's personal assistant tries in vain to rip the phone away from her famous boss.
Assitant, "Mrs, Rowlings, for the love of God, you are wrecking your own legacy!!"
JK Rowlings, "I don't care! Everyone must hear my every wandering pointless, ugly thought!!"
why does this not have more likes?
perfect!
As a cis straight woman, I want to thank you for your fair, concise, and educated explanations about trans people and transphobia. I want to learn. I want to understand the world from your point of view. And I want to do everything in my power to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. You’re beautiful! Don’t let the haters get you down.
Thank you so much for going through this. I rage quit reading it 2/3 of the way through when she said trans men were born women =_= I just don't know how to argue/educate TERFs. It's so exhausting. Why are they so obsessed with other people's gender!!? Every time someone brings up the bathroom thing, I think about how so many bathrooms are set up here in Japan. There will usually be a few little rooms with a sink and toilet inside the room and they're ALL unisex
“Essay” implies she did research lol
Oh, she did plenty of research on how to best couch transphobic and bigoted speech in the best possible way.
Reminds me of the oodles of research anti-vaxxers do. Quantity of research done does not mean you will output quality work. To quote an old computing axiom: garbage in, garbage out.
I think a better term for it would be "manifesto"
Stop attacking honest opinions in differing ideas. The truth is literally the opposite of your bias nonsense and not related to her ideas,
She clearly did far more research than most of us ever do on this subject. It was a pretty tight essay that came to a conclusion many of us disagree with.
I love how JKR assumes trans guys these days don’t listen to music, or do art or else we wouldn’t transition
Joann it’s so much easier for me to hear music and create now that I’m living as a man, no amount of music would have made me a woman
I legit stopped watching another video to go watch this because I value your thoughts on this so much. This cis woman stands with her trans sisters! We are stronger together!
I know so little about trans issues and am trying to do more to understand. Thank you for giving of your time and emotional labor to provide people with this content. I really appreciate it and will be watching more of your videos. I hope you were able to take some time to rest and restore yourself.
Hey, thank you for trying to educate yourself. Honestly, seeing someone that's trying makes me so, so happy! Too few people try to learn.
I can feel my blood BOILING as soon as she starts discussing trans men. I remember my dad (actually my first stepdad but the only paternal figure I still speak to) - while competent as he was as a parent - refused to accept me being nonbinary, or the concept in general. He has a very binary view of the world - somewhat appropriate for someone who works in IT, despite the existence of hexidecimal proving that even in computing, binary is not the only format.
Getting back to the point, my medical transition was probably delayed by about two years because my abusive stepfather-figure (between the years of 2013 when he met my mother and the summer of 2018 when he and my mother divorced months after finally marrying) made me feel like I was no longer welcome in my own mother's home, and when I lived with my dad I was essentially isolated in terms of both social life and any genuine empathy, as there were things we never saw eye to eye on. Mainly my gender. Because at first, I didn't want to medically transition.
I remember the day when I went into his study, wringing my cuffs in uncertainty, asking how he would feel about me medically transitioning. He essentially asked me if I thought I was 'overthinking things' regarding my gender identity, 'because of all the problems of being a girl', and was told 'men have their problems too'. Yeah, no shit, Dad - but have you wondered which shit I'd RATHER put up with???
It took me far too long to get access to therapy and on the waiting list for just my first gender consultation appointment, and if my dad had actually listened and HELPED ME, maybe I would have gotten there sooner.
(For those curious, I'm back to living with my mother in Wales, I'm just a bus ride away from my therapist when she starts taking patients again, and I'm MUCH... Well, I wouldn't say happier, with everything going on, but definitely more accepted and supported.)
I'm in IT, and I have no difficulty in comprehending non-binary. :) I'm glad your situation has improved. As a father, I find it difficult to comprehend any parent that can't just *accept their kids* for the wonderful people they are - that's a "lived experience" I can't relate to and one I don't want to relate to for that matter.
I just came here to make sure the positive comments overwhelmingly outnumber the negative ones. Your pain was palpable and came through the screen. Jessie, even your INTRO was good. Rock on and stay strong
Your video is amazing, thank you so much for it. I am a brazilian cis woman and still JK's statements deeply affected and hurt me. There were so many wrong things in her essay, and I even noticed some from a health professional perspective - which I am - so I looked for a response essay and found your video. It was very cathartic to watch and I am sure it was very hard for you to make it. Again, thank you very much for your work!
I was directed here by a tumblr post commenting on JKR's recent tweets - someone recommended your videos and I wanted to understand the issue better. Thank you for putting in so much work to make this video so educational and informative - and especially thank you for making me even more aware of the ways TERFs may use manipulative and misleading language that directly harms trans people, and helping me recognise it better. It'll certainly help me to better understand why exactly certain messages are so harmful. I'm absolutely going to check out your other videos on trans issues as soon as I'm able. Last but not least, I know the video is over a year old, but I hope you're well. And I hope that in time, more and more cis women realise that all of us women, trans or not, fight for the same thing - the right to be a woman the way we want to be.
(On a side note, I noticed how in the essay JKR consistently portrays AMAB people as inherently predatory, and AFAB people as the victims. which of course is a whole other can of worms. anyways I'm just rambling. thank you again for this video ♡)
Thank you. I am not a hugger, but I want you to feel very hugged when you read this, and I want you to know that I see you are a truly beautiful person. Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts in this way.
You write it well, all the time, every time. And I get you, there's other fights to be had, other things to spend energy on, but...
Here I stand, I can do no other.
You’re a very kind and respectful being, Jessie. Thank you for making this.
This video hits home in so many ways, I am proud of you for making it. I don't know if I could. I am also a trans woman, my youtube channel is very small but I get online harassment and transphobia in the few videos I have posted too and knowing from experience that a large portion of my comments are going to be arguing against my womanhood just for me being visible in my videos is just one of many reasons why I rarely post because I don't want to have to deal with more of those.
Sending hugs to you and again thank you for making this in depth breakdown video of JK's bad arguments and misleading framing!
I was struggling to even get through the essay, all my respect for you for to be shooting and editing this video. Let your voice be heard, we‘ll be shouting along with you
Please don’t apologise for the length of a video. This is so important for everyone to hear. Sending you love, thank you for this video
Why would any "fake trans" sex criminal go through the hassle of crossdressing and assaulting someone in a place where anyone can accidentally walk in and interfere? Unlit parks and alleys exist. Also the places that host public restrooms usually have security guards or CCTV nearby, making them horrible for doing any kind of violent crime. If bathrooms were any good crime locations they'd already be infested by cis criminals doing mugging, theft or homosexual sex crimes.
This bathroom anxiety is so contrived anyone who seriously worries about it needs to touch grass asap.
EXACTLY! It's like these people who make the arguments forget that Occam's Razor exists; the simplest explanation requiring the least amount of assumptions is usually the correct one. Why on earth would ANYONE go through the trouble and the long-winded efforts just to dress up and go hurt someone in a bathroom? Why would any man, who has been born and brought up with the thought that they are owed everything, feel the need to 'dress up' in order to get access? It isn't like those doors actually lock most of the time, and there's no armed guard outside preventing a man from entering. If a man wants to go inside, believe me, they fucking will. The argument is ridiculous.
As a cis man I can’t pretend to know what you’re going through, but I share your anger and disgust at JK Rowling and all the crap human beings put other human beings through.
I’m not really sure how to word this... just take care and know that I stand beside you.
If JK was a book character people would be complaining because it's the cliché case of a character being talented, altruist, inteligent and almost perfect, and then just get a huge flaw slaped as an atempt to make it a 3d person... Well, turns out she is real, turns out those kind of people do exist.
I just feel the need to say a few things, even I felt furious and in need to respond to her latest essay. Even I couldn't stay silent after all the STILL transphobic bs she's thrown together. I've been studying about trans issues, gender, sex and sexual orientation for years now, and I feel extremely defensive over all my trans siblings! (Other LGBT siblings too, but especially trans.) Especially seeing everything they actually go through, how could I not?! I mean I have always been supportive of all my human siblings in general, but after these tweets I am left furious! Especially the last whole essay.
I feel your pain and frustration in these videos, as you try to explain the reality (btw, I completely agree with everything you said, great job!). I feel the need to also add, just in case you need to hear it: You are very valid and accepted as who you ARE, I mean you already know this yourself but also many people know: you're just like any other woman, same and different, and there are a lot of people fighting for your rights in so many ways. You are not alone, despite all the hate that you get, there are many people who stand against that hate and stand with you, and even fight for you! Because unfortunately the fight is still needed. I personally will never be silent either and will always stand up for the oppressed, for anyone with less rights, for anyone hurt, harassed, abused, invalidated etc. I have retweeted her essay with my own short essay posted on Tumblr, if you'd like to see it, hope it brings you some hope and at least some calm: twitter.com/TigerTalented/status/1271149532307492866?s=20
You are definitely not alone, besides countless trans people fighting for the rights, there are countless allies, as you've probably already seen, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Eddie Redmayne, also Jameela Jamil, an amazing woman fighting for so many right things today too (including body positivity). I just really felt the need to talk to you personally as I understand your struggles enough to see... Even just that awful dehumanising hate you get just for being trans is enough to know enough! And that you should know you are not alone! That you are appreciated, accepted, seen as YOU! I apologise if in any way I ended up offensive, I apologise for being all over the place and a total mess, I don't speak to anyone these days any more due to all of the events, in my personal life and the world events, but just like you I feel such urge to stand up against this, and stand up for you. I hope I did right. I really wish you all the support, if you need any.
So sorry to hear about personal attacks you have recieved. Damn people can be shits. I hope you can remain getting pleasure from Harry Potter. Don't know what books you like but check out Gail Carriger Parasol protectorate series awesome in my opinion x.
Beautiful essay Jessie‼️🌟❤️🏳️🌈
I support your struggle, your courage. I admire your eloquence. Every word worked.
Rowling is turning into the reincarnation of Mary Whitehouse (for you Brits, or Phyllis Schlafly for you Americans). A smiling “hip” conservatism that doesn’t dare say its name. A redressed exclusionary traditionalist binary mindset.
She has joined the ideas of the Malfoys, as if the only “real” women are “pure blooded.”
There are SO many logical fallacies in her text it would make a Vulcan cringe. 🖖🏼 Like the prerequisite 2nd-wave feminist namedropping of Simone De Beauvoir. Has she actually read “The Second Sex?” I have, it’s very dated (it was written in France in 1949 after all).
Most galling that she should emit this essay right in the middle of Pride Month too...
Edit: I added the quotes around “real” because I want to make sure that people got that was being ironic and pointing out JKR’s own odd contradictions...
But I know I overuse quotation marks.
But not as much as I overuse emoticons... 🙄😜⭐️🏳️🌈❤️
The whole bathroom argument is particularly wild to me since it doesn't take into account that trans men exist. For arguments sake, if TERFs got their way and everyone had to use the bathroom of their birth gender assignment, what the fresh hell are these fools gonna do if a trans man who passes as cis has to go into their precious womyn facility????
For all their squawking about protecting women they sure don't seem to care that women are the primary target of their vitriol.
Whenever I see that argument, I post a picture of Buck Angel and ask how comfortable they'd be sharing a bathroom with him.
It's ridiculous in fact, because it would actively make it easier for a cis man to abuse. Instead of dressing like a woman and getting a gender recognition certificate, he could just say he's a trans man.
Somehow the simple words “never to talk over you” finally got me out of my anger and I started just weeping. I think it’s your honesty, bravery, and caring, really. (I cry at protests, tbh 😉) I always love your wisdom and common sense, Jessie (incl on the subject of sci fi!) and this one is out of the park. Your arguments are so well supported and clear. Please know your anger is wholeheartedly felt and supported by this cis white woman. I felt pretty well informed before, but this is an hour I still needed. You are teaching me so much, especially about the best ways to argue against this weird “movement” that is so seemingly implacable, and I appreciate it enormously. I’m sure the message will go out immeasurably beyond your viewers. It needs a wider audience. All the ❤️, and please take good care of yourself first, as they say.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Jessie Gender Aww, Jessie, I wish I could give you a real hug. They’re way too far between these days. But for what it’s worth 🥰 to you.
No worries on the audio! You sound ok and your message is way too important to worry about crap like that anyway.
The audio is not a problem at all. While polished audio quality is great, it's also nice and grounding to hear the physical space someone is in from time to time.
Honestly, the more distanced audio helped me keep a bit of an emotional distance from all the awfulness of the subject, I would probably feel significantly more drained without that kind of filter.
Agreed! I hear you loud and clear.
I don't think this was a waste of time at all. I think this is the best, most respectful, educational video I have seen a long time. It is amazing and touching that you can be so passionate and supportive while not reducing to malicious attacks and vitriol against those you disagree with. The fact that you can give Rowling credit where credit is due while also dismantling the harmful, untruthful and/or ignorant things she says with logic, reason, and compassion makes my heart swell. As someone who is personally ignorant of the much of the trans community's struggles, I am so glad I decided to watch this. You make an excellent teacher.
Thank you for this video, your pain is palpable and I could see how hard this was for you at times. I myself have to work to avoid feeling resentment at the lack of information, education and care that, had I received it, could've meant I lived as my authentic self from much younger age. Your ability to remain fair and impartial is admirable, especially considering the people you speak about often do not pay you the same courtesy. The work you're doing its really important and appreciated.
This got reccommended to me, and I am *so* thankful for you going through this as calmly and rationally as you did.
I too forced myself to read JK's "essay" so I was aware of what was going on. As a slowly coming out enby when this came up in my Twitter feed I found that I was barely paying attention to the manipulation when she brought ASD into it on top of her transphobia it just about destroyed me.
Thank you for being so strong and going through this intense issue to share everything that everyone needs to know.
Never apologize for the length of a video in which you speak so passionately about the issues that are important to you. Thank you so much for sharing this invaluable resource as well as your own personal journey as a trans woman. 💜
Thank you for making this. I know this is hard on you.You've thoroughly dismantled JKR's "arguments", such as they are * derisive snort * and you've done so much more respectfully than she made them (and much more respectfully than I'd have done in your place). You are an astonishing, wonderful person and a better fan than JKR deserves at this point imho.
I've wasted the last few hours argueing with transphobes online and I am so f#*king spent right now...
I think I’ve witnessed a couple of those, Galvion. Remember those keyboard warriors have endless hours to spend, through no virtue of their own. Clean up, champion. And Thanks from a cis male with a trans friend.
I wish I could like this video 100 times over. You’re so eloquent and I appreciate hearing your perspective on JK’s ‘essay’.
Growing up female, socially, emotionally and physically does give me a different experience from a transgender woman. I think many women are cautious about cis female spaces changing and sadly trans women who don't pass easily or are early in transition make many women uncomfortable. With more information and representation hopefully the future will be more optimistic.
I'm happy I discovered your work. When I first read "Terf Wars" I was like "well, that sounds reasonable enough,” but now I know just how wrong it is.
I found you a few days back just because of Star Trek Content. Now I find myself binging your videos and learning so much. Please know that you reached me, that you taught me a lot. And I now have another recourse that I can point people to if words fail me or if I feel it’s not my place to talk about certain issues. Thank you for your time and energy. Love from Germany.
Commenting in the middle of the video here, which is probably a bad idea, but it needs to be said that there's no one simple, reasonable thing that all trans activists are asking for. Activism encompasses basically everyone with a voice, and on the internet, that will always include bad faith actors. Just think what a Russian troll might say masquerading as a trans woman. I get the sense JK Rowling has experienced that dark side of progressives politics more than the rest of us. This doesn't excuse her. But her media landscape, the ideology with which she has become surrounded, is important context.
My takeaway from all this is that Twitter is toxic, Twitter is actively harmful to collective understanding, Twitter should be avoided.
I felt that way about Twitter years ago.
On the subject of the more toxic elements of trans activism, I have seen it but the actions of individuals shouldn't cause one to tar an entire group of people with the same brush, and as a cis-hetero male I can say that in my experiences transphobes are a lot more vocal and toxic than trans activists by quite a large margin.
The most toxic thing I saw a trans activist do was when Essence of Thought (I don't their real name) doxed and harassed Stephen Woodford for his video on Trans people in sport, and his friend Rachel Oates for not denouncing him, to the point that Rachel was driven to self-harm and it set back her mental health issues a long way, all for the single reason that she wouldn't denounce Woodford. Woodford even admitted that certain comments he made were incorrect and acknowledged this fact, but Essence of Thought continued the harassment and encouraged others to harass.
Anyway, seeing this did horrify me a lot, but it didn't change my mind about trans people or trans activists in general, and why on Earth should it!? Accusing all trans activists or all trans people of being toxic and dangerous is frankly no different to labelling all BLM supporters as looters, criminals and terrorists. The reason they highlight examples of toxic individuals doing things in the name of trans rights is because in their view how an argument is fought over is more important than the argument itself. But the means don't justify the ends, and examples of some activists acting in bad faith does not take away from the point being made, which is that trans people are marginalised and suffering because society is a cruel mistress. To claim any differently is dishonest at best.
@@lloroshastar6347 I agree with you 100%! When it comes to harassment, though, it's not about nameable activists. It's about how many thousands of pseudonymous randos pile on.
I haven't experienced this myself, and you probably haven't either. I think you'd have to be famous (or at least Twitter famous) for there to be enough randos even seeing your stuff.
Rowling though, she's plenty famous. She definitely experiences way more social pressure, even real world consequences, for saying anything publicly.
So being famous on Twitter seems to be the best way to generate hate mobs. I'm not sure what's the point of being on Twitter if you're not trying to be more famous. Being part of hate mobs I guess? Doesn't appeal to me, but maybe some people are into it...
That’s why I try to avoid Twitter when I can. I do a lot activism, so I can’t avoid it completely. Still, my mental health thanks me for this.
Thank you so much Jessie, I've been recommending your videos to my friends and peers to help them understand why JKRs comments are so horrible.I
I've had to fight with so many people this last week to protect a trans person I love dearly, I'm exhusted, I can't imagine how trying and frustrating and hurtful this has been for you.
Again, thank you so much for your videos. Sending you much love.
i’m so sorry you’ve experienced such blatant transphobia, you are valid and loved, not to mention pretty
Wow, I am really enjoying your videos. You are such an honest person, able to concede points to the 'other side' ( by acknowledging that trans activists may attack online) but then skillfully and (quiet frankly, rightly) putting it in context (that vitriol and attack happens on both sides and how that cannot be the sole basis of JK argument).
This video again, is broadening my thinking and my mind.
You're amazing gal 💗
Thank you for this video. It is hard to see you (understandably) getting riled up so much about this issue. Me being a straight cis-male, I understand quite little about the subject, but now I saw what it does to the people it concerns. Stay strong, Jessie! We will win this fight.
Jessie, thank you for making this video. I can imagine how hard it must have been to record it. I am a cis male and want to be an ally to the trans community. Thank you for educating others on the issue. 💙
This video is SO good, SO moving, and I’m incredibly grateful Jessie took the time to make it.
It helped me understand the misdirection of RK Rowling’s arguments, and the real life bigotry and dangers that trans folks face every day.
I was recently at a dinner with some friends who had listened to a Podcast, “The Witch Trials of RK Rowling,” that glossed over the harm that her statements have made. I sent them this video, and Jessie’s clear, well articulated response to JK’s essay had an immediate and profound impact.
They told me that the podcast had left a lot out about what JK has actually said and done with her actions towards trans people, and I was so grateful this resource was available to share with them at that time.
A dear teacher of mine once said, “you never truly know the impact your work will have, your only responsibility is to keep making it.” Thank you for all your work, Jessie. It’s already had a huge impact on my own life, and those around me.
Incredible analysis Jessie, really great work. I suppose I really should reactivate my Twitter so I can share you videos a bunch more ;)
Old cishet boomer here. Excellent breakdown of JKR’s contentious article. I’m trying to educate myself on broader women’s issues. Thanks!
You're one of my favorite youtubers simply because you give me hope. I hate debates and arguments about human rights and politics because they're just so anxiety inducing for me, but the videos you and some other youtubers make about these subjects do not make me uncomfortable or uneasy in the slightest. And you give me hope that sometime, somewhere, someday, things will change and we'll be able to live peacefully.
This is so sad, we just want to be part of socity and live our lives as everyone else. Transwoman are woman, Transman are man. Is this really this hard??
I wouldn't have thought so, but it seems there are those who have great difficulty in comprehending it. The problem is clearly with them.
Are you honestly asking or are you being rhetorical?
A good thing that came out of all this was me finding your channel a few days back. I'm in a country where getting any sort of medical help for transitioning is very, very hard. Your little space here on youtube makes me feel happier. Thank you for making this important video and I'm sorry you had to read through that essay so many times.
By the way, you always dress so well! Love this style on you!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I read her essay and there is a lot to unpack in it. I know how emotionally exhausting it can be to address controversies that strike close to home. Still watching and this is helping my interpretation and education as well. Thank you so much for sharing your insights!
This was informative. Thank you, I’ve been wanting to understand the harm of JK Rowling’s statements and why people are boycotting the wizarding world IP.